Star Child: Tales of Steven Diamond Universe
by Brianna Freeman
Summary: Thousands of years ago, Rose Diamond had arrived on Earth and was enamored by its beauty. Now, with the help of her old team, the Crystal Gems, her son, Steven Diamond Universe, works to unlock his full potential and help protect the planet Earth in her place. Reviews always welcome!
1. The Glow Of My Gem

**So, after _Steven Universe_ wrapped up its original story, I've wondered about if things worked out a little bit differently. People, I present my first real _Steven Universe_ fanfiction. I've had this account for a few years now but I haven't actually written anything for the site except for a couple of cringey things which I since deleted. I also didn't want to write anything for this series until it was finished out of fear of getting something wrong. Anyway, enjoy! _All rights to Steven Universe reserved to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network._**

Steven was sitting on his couch and strumming his ukulele, keeping an eye on the Warp Pad in the living room in case his caretakers, the Crystal Gems, returned from their mission.

He remembered the first song he'd ever written, back when he was very young and still lived with his dad.

"If you're evil and you're on the rise,

You can count on the five of us taking you down.

'Cause we're good and evil never beats us.

We'll win the fight and then go out for pizzas.

We...

Are the Crystal Gems!

We'll always save the day!

And if you think we can't,

We'll always find a way!

That's why the people of this world...

Believe in...

Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, and Pearl,

And Steven!"

He was just wrapping up his song when he heard the familiar _ping_ of the Warp Pad being activated.

"Hey, you're back- Agh!" Steven let out a shout as something jumped out from behind the Gems and spit a gob of acid at him, which he luckily dodged as it hit the couch instead. The creature lunged at him before it was lassoed by a whip which a short, (though still taller than Steven) plump, purple-skinned woman with long, off-white hair with a yellow star barrette in it and two small, darker purple horns on her head, Amethyst, had summoned from the dark purple gemstone embedded in her chest. She wore a loose, grayish-purple sweater which exposed her black shoulder straps, a seafoam green fanny pack, black leggings with star shapes cut out of the knees, and white boots. "Hey, dude," she casually greeted as she put a booted foot down on its back to prevent it from antagonizing Steven further.

"Are you alright, Steven?" a tall, slender, very pale-skinned woman dressed in a pale cyan, short-sleeved dress shirt, a teal tie with a yellow star on it, poofy, coral pink shorts with suspenders, and yellow socks and teal shoes, with short, peachy pink hair and a white, oval-shaped stone embedded in her forehead, Pearl, ran over to him and put a hand on his cheek. "The acid didn't hit you, did it?"

"I'm fine," Steven assured her. "But what is that thing? Why did it try to attack me?"

"A Rough Nephrite," Amethyst answered. "Pretty creepy-lookin' up close, ain't it?" The Rough Nephrite looked like a large, dark green centipede with a line of large green stones running down its back and a mane of white hair. Instead of pincers, its mouth resembled a beak lined with sharp, black teeth, and had a single, round eye in the center of it.

"The shrine we were at was swarming with them," a stocky, red-skinned woman who was shorter than both Amethyst and Steven and wore a burgundy headband, a burgundy tank top with a raspberry red star on the front, a mahogany sports bra which could be seen through the tank top's arm holes, maroon shorts, and mahogany boots, Ruby, added. "One of them must've followed us back here without any of us noticing! _UGH!_" Ruby dug her fingers into her dark, kinky hair in frustration.

"It's especially surprising that it had managed to get past _my_ field of vision," a blue-skinned, light-blue-haired woman who appeared to be as tall as Ruby (maybe a little taller, but not by much) and wore an elegant-looking dress with white, poofy sleeves, a dark navy and baby blue bodice, and a floor-length, royal blue skirt with a baby blue strip of fabric adorned with a powder blue star running down the front, as well as white, elbow-length handless gloves with a loop around each of her middle fingers, Sapphire, spoke calmly while massaging Ruby's shoulders in an effort to calm her down. Her perpetually calm voice, coupled with her long hair covering the entire upper half of her face, easily made her the most stoic of the Crystal Gems. She then turned her attention to everyone. "Our objective now is to destroy the Rough Nephrite before it can get out of the Temple."

"Aw, do you really have to kill it?" Steven said. "It looks really cool." He reached out a hand to pet the Rough Nephrite's mane, only to reel it back with a gasp as the Nephrite snapped its hissing jaws at his fingers.

"I'm sorry, Steven, but we can't risk it attacking the citizens of Beach City," Sapphire said. "We have to do what we can to protect the Earth and its inhabitants. Even if it means killing Gem creatures like this one."

"Okay." Steven reluctantly stepped back and let the Gems do their work.

"I'll take care of this." Pearl summoned her spear and sliced the Nephrite's head clean off, a viscous, cyan liquid oozing from the newly made holes, which were reminiscent of the holes in a lotus pod.

"How do you guys do that anyway?" Steven asked.

"Do what?" Pearl asked.

"Summon your Gem weapons."

"From our gemstones, of course." Amethyst snarked.

"Yeah, but, how? Maybe if I learn how it's done, I'll be able to summon my own weapon." Steven lifted his pinkish-red T-shirt to look at the gemstone that he inherited from his mother: a pink, upside-down, brilliant-cut diamond which was where his bellybutton would be if he were fully human.

"Allow me to explain, Steven!" Pearl grabbed Steven's hand and dragged him over to the Warp Pad.

* * *

While Pearl and the rest of the Gems were used to warping, Steven was not. While Pearl was able to keep perfectly still, he kept flipping over and over in the air all throughout the journey, and face-planted into the ground beneath them when they made their destination. Pearl helped Steven to his feet and dusted him off as he shook his head to ward off his dizziness.

When Steven looked around, he saw that they had warped to Pearl's favorite place: a peaceful, green meadow with a cherry blossom tree. "What are we doing here, Pearl?"

"I'll show you." Pearl took Steven's hand and led him to the tree, its pale pink petals slowly drifting to the ground below. "Do you see the petals falling from this tree?"

Steven nodded his head yes, not sure what that had to do with summoning Gem weapons.

"The way they dance as they fall may seem improvised, but it's actually carefully calculated in accordance with the physical properties of the Earth. That's how I summon _my_ weapon: with precise calculation of my environment so that I may do my own dance!" Pearl's gemstone started glowing as a long, white handle slowly emerged from it, which she grabbed and pulled out her spear while spinning in a pirouette, its winding blade shining cyan in the sunlight. "Like so."

Steven looked down at some fallen petals on the ground, scooped up a handful, and threw it up in the air, paying close attention to how they spun and twirled as they floated back down. He then spun around himself, trying to mimic Pearl's pirouette, and lifted his shirt to see if his own gemstone was glowing. Nothing.

* * *

-At the boardwalk-

"Pearl says that she summons her weapon by calculating her environment to dance like a tree. Or... something like that. What do you do, Amethyst?"

Amethyst took a sip of the soda she had in her hand before promptly crushing the can against her head and eating it. "I don't really need to calculate my environment or whatever crap Pearl was squawkin' to you about. I just do it." Amethyst's gemstone glowed as she grabbed the hilt of her whip and carelessly whipped it around, slicing a nearby trashcan in half.

"Wow."

"Yup. And I didn't even have to try."

"HEY!" they heard a voice shout. "What do you two hooligans think you're doing?!"

"Run for it!" Amethyst exclaimed as she grabbed Steven and ran away from the scene.

* * *

-On the beach, near the Crystal Temple-

"You wanna know how I summon _my_ weapon?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so what I do is direct all my energy into my gem, and then... _Hah!_" Ruby let out a war cry as she pumped her left fist in the air, the hand that housed her gemstone, and a dark red gauntlet appeared on it in a flash of red light. "That's all there really is to it."

"Whoa... I'm gonna try that."

"Knock yourself out."

Steven took his shirt off and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply through his nose and concentrating on directing his energy into his gemstone. "Time to activate the glow of my gem. ...Hyah!" Steven suddenly thrust his stomach forward and let out a war cry of his own. He then looked down at his gem to see if it was glowing. Once again, not even a flicker. He sighed in disappointment as he put his shirt back on.

Ruby gave him a comforting pat on the back. "Better luck next time, buddy."

* * *

Steven went inside his beach house and slumped on the couch, feeling very sorry for himself.

"I sense that you're upset because you're having trouble summoning your weapon."

"Huh?" Steven looked to the right and saw Sapphire sitting next to him. "Yeah, I am. Ruby, Amethyst and Pearl can all summon their weapons so easily. Why is it so hard for me?"

"You _will_ be able to summon your weapon someday, Steven. In time, you'll figure everything out."

"You really think so?"

"Have I ever been wrong about anything before?"

"No."

"There's your answer."

Suddenly, there was an animalistic screech outside.

"What was that?!" Steven exclaimed.

"It's another Rough Nephrite; a much bigger one." Sapphire got up from the couch. "Stay inside where it's safe." And she quickly flitted out the door.

Steven went up to the window and looked out to see a Rough Nephrite that looked about 50 feet long, spitting acid in every direction.

* * *

"Where the slag did this one even _come_ from?!" Ruby cried in exasperation.

"Who cares?!" Amethyst exclaimed. "Let's just kill it and get it over with!"

"Do we have a plan?" Pearl asked, turning to Sapphire.

"Amethyst will distract the Rough Nephrite by running around it. While it's distracted, I will use my ice powers to freeze it in its tracks, and then Ruby and Pearl will use their weapons to break the frozen Nephrite into pieces, killing it once and for all."

"Right," the three other Gems all spoke in unison as Amethyst proceeded to curl up into a ball and roll at almost supersonic speeds around the creature. The Rough Nephrite sprayed a yellow-green stream of acid from its huge maw, trying and failing to hit her.

Sapphire then shot a long, continuous stream of ice magic from the gemstone embedded in the palm of her right hand, effectively freezing the monster in a giant block of ice.

However, the ice prison would quickly prove ineffective as the ice fell off the Nephrite's massive body in chunks. The Nephrite roared in fury as it spit a stream of acid at the remaining Gems, which they jumped away from.

"It didn't work," Sapphire said.

"What are we gonna do now?!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I'll tire it out!" Amethyst said. "You guys go hide 'til it's safe to try and attack it again!" And Amethyst continued to roll around the Nephrite as it continued to try and hit her with its acid.

"She'll be fine," Sapphire said. "Let's go." The remaining three Gems ran and hid behind one of the fallen hands of the Crystal Temple.

* * *

Steven couldn't bear to just stand by and watch any of his friends get maimed by this giant, acid-spewing monster. He had to do something.

He ran out the door to the beach. "Steven, go back inside!" Pearl shouted at him. "It's too dangerous!" But Steven didn't listen to her. He picked up a large rock with the intention to throw it at the Rough Nephrite. "Hey, you big jerk! Stop attacking my friends!"

Suddenly, Steven's gemstone started glowing and... **_SHOOM!_** A pink, round, translucent shield decorated with a rose design popped out of his gem like an image from a film projector.

Steven couldn't believe his eyes! He finally summoned his Gem weapon, and it was a _shield!_

Steven saw that everyone else was shocked at the sight as well, including the giant Rough Nephrite, its jaws agape and still dripping with acid. He took advantage of its disoriented state and threw his newly-summoned shield at its head like a Frisbee, knocking it unconscious as it went down with a hard _THUD_, kicking up a large cloud of sand particles in its wake.

"It's safe," Sapphire said, and on Ruby's command of "Let's go, Pearl," she and Pearl jumped out from behind the now partially melted stone hand and used their weapons to break the unconscious Nephrite into multiple chunks.

"Did you guys _see_ that?!" Steven exclaimed excitedly. "I summoned my Gem weapon all by myself!"

"Yes, that was _excellent_, Steven!" Pearl said, kneeling down to give him a hug.

"Yeah!" Amethyst piped up. "Especially how you lobbed it at the Rough Nephrite and conked it out!"

"You made us real proud today, champ!" Ruby said as she and Sapphire held hands. "We don't know _where_ we'd be without your trusty shield to save the day!"

Sapphire gave an encouraging nod. "I told you that you would be able to summon your weapon," she said with a smile.

"Yeah," Steven said. "And in time, I'll figure everything out. And you guys'll help me, right?"

"Of course, Steven," Pearl said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll all be here to help you figure out your powers so you can fight for the Earth alongside us as a fully-fledged Crystal Gem."

"So, what do we do now?" Ruby asked.

"Well, we won the fight," Steven said. "So I guess now we can go out for pizzas."

"Sounds good to me," Amethyst said, and so they all went to Fish Stew Pizza for a celebratory pizza lunch.


	2. If Every Pork Chop Were Perfect

**By the way, the full title for this chapter is "If Every Pork Chop Were Perfect, We Wouldn't Have Hotdogs", but apparently, that's too long to put as a title.**

The sun was setting in Beach City. Steven and his dad, Greg Universe, were sitting in the back of Greg's van and having a jam session. Their father-son bonding time was interrupted by the ringing of Steven's cell phone. He took it out of his pocket and answered it. "Yello?"

"_Steven?_" It was Pearl.

"Oh, hey, Pearl. What do you need?"

"_Steven, we need you back at the Temple. It's an emergency._"

"Don't worry, I'll be right over." Steven hung up and started making his way back to the Crystal Temple. "Sorry, Dad. The Gems need me back at the Temple."

"That's okay," Greg assured him as he stood up and put away his guitar. "We can rock out again later. Whatever Gem stuff you gotta take care of is more important. After all, if every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs!"

* * *

The Crystal Temple was a massive, woman-shaped structure carved into the side of a cliff on the beach. Four of its eight giant hands held Steven's beach house, and its two stoic faces stared out at the sky and the ocean respectively. Steven saw Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire standing on the beach below and looking up at the sky. Ruby and Sapphire were standing side by side, holding hands as usual, and Pearl was standing nervously next to a pink cannon that looked about 9 feet tall, its nozzle pointing up at the sky.

"So what's the emergency?" Steven walked towards them, his eyes focused on the cannon. "What's this big cannon for?"

"It's called the Laser Light Cannon," Pearl started explaining, putting a hand on the cannon's glossy exterior. "Your mother, Rose Diamond, constructed it to blast enemy ships out of the Earth's atmosphere to prevent them from landing here."

"Enemy ships?"

"Enemy ships like that," Ruby said, pointing to a distant, red object in the evening sky with the telescope she had on hand. Steven took it from her and peered through it to look at a red spacecraft vaguely shaped like an upside-down cone that had what looked like a yellow window on the front of it, and three small legs on the bottom.

"We believe it might be a group of soldiers sent from Gemworld to take us prisoner," Sapphire said.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late." Amethyst walked over to the rest of the group, stuffing her mouth full of french-fries from a greasy paper bag she had in her hand.

"There you are, Amethyst!" Pearl said. "Where have you been?"

"Eating fries."

Pearl pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Anyway, we need to figure out the activation phrase before the ship reaches Earth."

"But we have no clue what that could be," Ruby said. "And if we don't figure it out soon, we're as good as cracked!" She held her head in anxiety.

Sapphire began massaging Ruby's shoulders. "Rose had a history of changing the activation phrase every now and again to make her attacks less predictable," she explained. "She usually chose phrases that carried a lot of meaning to her."

"Well, if it's a phrase that meant a lot to her, then it must be something my dad would say!" Steven concluded.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at him. She didn't seem upset, just rather skeptical. "You think?"

Pearl nervously fiddled with her tie. "Steven, Greg is nice, but I don't think-"

"Your dad's kinda dumb, Steven." Amethyst bluntly interrupted as she shoved more fries into her food hole.

"Amethyst!"

"What? I'm just telling the truth. I mean, when has he ever said anything really profound?"

"I'm sure he's got some wise words," Steven said. "I'll go ask him." And he took off back to the van.

"Good luck!" Pearl called out to him as she glanced uneasily at the ship. "We'll just keep guessing until you figure it out!"

* * *

"Hey, Dad! I need your help with something!" Steven knocked on the back doors of Greg's van to get his attention. No answer. He knocked harder, using both of his fists to bang on the doors. "Dad, c'mon! This is kinda important!" Steven stepped back and rammed his body into the back of the van as hard as he could. "Dad, wake up! The world is at stake!"

"What's going on?! Who's there?!" Greg's startled voice called.

"Dad, it's me!" Steven called to him. "The Gems and I need your help."

Greg stepped out of his van, scratching his balding head incredulously. "The Gems need _my_ help? I thought normal humans weren't supposed to get involved with Gem stuff."

"The Gems need the activation phrase for Mom's Laser Light Cannon so we can blast away the enemy ship in the Earth's atmosphere." Steven pointed to the red shape in the lilac evening sky. "They said she picked something that held a lot of meaning to her, and I figured it might be something you always say."

Greg sheepishly smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, heh, I don't know if anything I ever said could be _that_ important."

"Sure it could! Mom was the only one who attended your first concert. That's how you guys met."

Greg gave a fond chuckle. "Yeah, I remember that night. I still don't understand what she ever saw in a big ol' dope like me."

"So, what wise words do you know that could help us?"

"Well, the more, the merrier, I always say. Or, the early bird gets the worm. I don't know. I think I wrote a few things in my old song book. Let's go check my storage unit to see if it's in there."

Greg got in the driver's seat of his van while Steven took the passenger seat. They buckled up and drove to the other side of town.

"Can we put in one of your CDs?" Steven asked his father.

"I guess," Greg replied. "Some of those songs don't really hold up all that well."

Steven popped one of the CDs into the slot underneath the van's radio, which he turned on to play a song that Greg wrote for Rose long ago.

_I know I'm not that tall._

_I know I'm not that smart._

_But let me drive my van into your heart..._

Greg silently cringed behind the wheel as the song filled the van, though his son seemed to enjoy it, judging how he danced in his seat and occasionally sang along to some of the verses. Before they knew it, they had arrived at a line of storage units, all identical with orange doors. "Well, here we are," Greg said as he and Steven got out of the van and walked over to the furthermost right unit.

"This is just where I keep stuff I can't fit in the van." Greg used a key on his key ring to open the door, revealing a massive amount of assorted knickknacks.

"Whoa..." Steven gasped in awe. "It's like a whole museum full of dad stuff! The song book's gotta be in here somewhere!" Steven grabbed a flashlight off the ground and tied an old garden hose around his waist. "Okay, so when I find it, I'll just tug on the hose and you pull me back out."

Greg gave an encouraging thumbs-up. "Got it. Good luck."

Steven gave an affirmative nod and went in. He could hardly see anything in the pitch darkness of the storage unit. He turned on the flashlight he had in his hand, hitting it against his palm to get the light to stop flickering. He walked cautiously around the unit, shining his light on various cardboard boxes and miscellaneous items. No song book in sight. Steven sighed to himself as he kept searching.

Suddenly, he spotted a rectangular object in the surrounding darkness. He shone his flashlight on it and went over to pick it up. The front cover read _Recipes for Single Parents_ in red, cursive letters and had a picture of a pot roast underneath. Not what he was looking for. He put the book down and kept looking for his dad's song book.

He was so focused on finding it that he didn't notice the box full of fiction books on the ground. He tripped over it and grabbed the closest item in his reach to keep himself from falling over. However, that caused the junk on top of it to topple over. Steven gave a startled shout and ducked for cover as everything fell to the ground with a loud, resounding **CRASH!**

"Steven! Are you okay?!" Greg cried from outside the storage unit.

"Yeah!" Steven called back at him. "Some stuff just fell. If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs, right?" He stood back up and dusted himself off. His flashlight shone on a small, brown, leatherbound book with one of those fancy button clasps to keep it shut. He picked it up and undid the clasp to open it. The inside cover read _Mr. Universe's Song Book_. "Dad, I found it!" Steven cried excitedly as he tugged on the hose.

"That's great, Schtu-ball!" Greg pulled on his end of the hose to pull his half-Gem son out of the storage unit. Steven made his way out with the song book in hand. They looked up at the sky to see that the ship was getting closer. The window could now be seen from the distance they were standing from it.

"Dad, we gotta hurry! They're almost here!" Steven scrambled into the passenger seat as his dad got into the driver's seat and put his foot down on the gas pedal. They drove to the beach as fast as they could.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Gems were still trying to get the Laser Light Cannon to activate. "Two wrongs don't make a right!" Pearl cried to it.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?!" Ruby groaned in growing frustration. "Come on!"

"How about 'one man's trash is another man's pleasure?'" Amethyst suggested.

"The phrase is 'one man's trash is another man's _treasure_,'" Pearl corrected. "And why on Earth would Rose make _that_ the cannon's activation phrase?!" Amethyst simply shrugged in response as Greg's van pulled up to them.

"We're here!" Steven said as he and his dad hopped out of the van and ran over to them.

"Did you figure out the activation phrase?" Pearl asked.

"I've got Dad's song book right here!" Steven held out his hands to realize he didn't have the song book with him. "Huh?" Steven went back inside the van to search for it. It was nowhere to be found. "I must've dropped it when I was getting back in the van. Now what'll we do?"

"It's okay, Steven," Greg said, putting a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. "We'll figure it out one way or another. After all..."

Steven smiled up at him. "If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn't have hotdogs."

The cannon suddenly hummed to life, its nozzle "blooming" as large, petal-like pieces of it opened upwards and formed a perfect rose shape. The cannon fell over onto the sand and the six of them all worked together to lift it and aim it at the ship.

"This is it!" Ruby yelled over the hum.

"Brace yourselves," Sapphire said.

Suddenly, Steven felt himself being thrown into Pearl as a beam of bright pink light vaguely shaped like a woman shot out of the cannon and knocked the ship out of the Earth's atmosphere, sending it careening backwards as it flipped back into space. A small twinkle in the sky was the last they saw of it, for now at least.

A tear ran down Greg's cheek. "Rose, that was beautiful..."

Amethyst shook her head while making a sort of "brrr" sound with her lips. "That was kinda intense." She turned to Steven. "So, what did you say to get the cannon to turn on?"

"I said the thing Dad always says."

"The thing about pork products?" Pearl asked incredulously.

"Honestly, that's the _last_ thing I'd expect the activation phrase to be," Ruby mused as she put her hands on her hips. Amethyst gave an amused chuckle in response.

* * *

-Meanwhile, on the Gem homeworld-

"Yellow, listen to me," an extraordinarily tall, blue-skinned women dressed in a darker blue robe with a blue, rhombus-shaped gemstone embedded in her chest pleaded with another woman who was sitting in a chair in front of a large monitor showing an image of the planet Earth from space. This woman was just as tall as her, but her dominant color was her namesake; yellow skin, yellow hair styled into a vague helmet shape, a yellow suit with broad shoulder pads, and a yellow, rhombus-shaped gemstone embedded in her chest. "We can't keep sending Gems to Earth."

"Pink needs to learn her lesson," Yellow snapped. "And if sending more Gems to Earth is the only way to get through to her, Blue, then so be it."

"We should at least ask what Mother thinks."

"What I think about what?" A voice asked. The two sisters turned to see that their mother was now on the screen. All that could be seen was her head and shoulders, but her skin and spikey hair shone a bright white that was almost blinding to look at. One could just barely make out the white, brilliant-cut gemstone embedded in her forehead. Her face held a stern expression as her light grey, white-pupiled eyes glared at them.

"Mother!" Blue cried. "We were just discussing-"

"We were discussing how to get Pink to realize she has a colony to run," Yellow interrupted. "She's clearly shirking her duties as a Diamond Matriarch, and I'm trying to get her into proper shape. What would you say to sending more Gems over to get her to comply?"

"I would say to not worry about it too much, Yellow," their mother replied, her black lips curling into a small smile. "Our Starlight will realize what she should be doing soon enough. You'll see..."


	3. My New Cheeseburger Backpack

**Dragontitan: I've got a couple of things planned for Lapis. I don't know how everything with her will pan out yet, but we'll just see how things go for right now.**

"Please, Mr. Postman, bring me a post. Bring me the post I love the most," Steven sang as he sat on the stairs of his porch, swinging his legs, waiting expectantly for his new package to arrive. He'd been waiting for it ever since he ordered it online a week ago. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jamie the mailman carrying a sizeable cardboard box over to the beach house.

"Jamie!" Steven jumped down from the porch and ran over excitedly to the older man. "You got my package for me?"

"I sure do!" Jamie replied. "Just sign here and we'll be all set." He handed Steven a clipboard and a pen. Steven wrote his signature on the bottom line of the paper and handed the clipboard and pen back to him. "Thank you, Steven Universe. Always a pleasure doing business with you."

"Any time, my good mailman." Steven took the package and headed back inside his beach house. That was when he saw the Gems warping back. "You're back! Lemme show you guys what I got in the mail today."

"We'd love to see whatever you got, Steven, but we can't stay for too long," Pearl said. Steven noticed that she was holding a golden-yellow, heart-shaped crystal that was roughly the size of a grapefruit.

"Why not?" Steven asked. "Does it have something to do with that crystal heart thingy you're holding?"

"Yes, it does, as a matter of fact!" Pearl answered excitedly. "This crystal heart thingy is called a Suspension Core. This one was keeping the Solar Spire aloft, and we need to put it back in its proper spot as soon as possible or else the entire place will collapse."

"What's the Solar Spire?"

"It was once a hub for elite Gems and their associates to get together and socialize on Earth." Pearl projected a hologram of the place from her stone. It was a tall, winding, conical structure surrounded by floating masses of land in various sizes. "It was quite beautiful in its hayday: marble pillars that reached towards the sun, vast fields of wild flowers on the surrounding islands, I can only imagine what you would think of it."

"We're only coming back here to gather emergency supplies," Sapphire said.

"Well, maybe I can carry everything for you in what I got in the mail!" Steven suggested happily.

Ruby scratched at her headband in curiosity. "What'd you get anyway?"

"Only the most amazing thing ever." Steven set the package down on the floor and got to work ripping off the tape. He opened the box and pulled out a novelty backpack shaped like a cheeseburger. It was almost as large as his torso and had two arm straps on the bottom "bun." "Da dada da! Presenting my new cheeseburger backpack!"

"Can I eat it?" Amethyst asked.

"No, you can't eat it!" Steven clutched the backpack to his chest protectively. "I got it to help you guys on missions!"

"Chillax, dude, I was only joking," Amethyst reassured him.

"Steven, it's nice that you want to help us on missions, but it's still too dangerous for you," Pearl said, getting down on one knee and putting a hand on Steven's shoulder. "You're still very young and inexperienced in the ways of being a Crystal Gem. You barely even know how to activate your Gem powers."

"But with this, I'll be able to carry all sorts of stuff we need." Steven unzipped all of the pockets of his new backpack to show them off. "Everything here is a pocket: the buns, the tomato, the lettuce, the patty, even the cheese is a pocket. You could fit a bazillion things in here!"

"A bazillion does sound like a high number," Ruby mused as she rubbed her chin in contemplation.

"I say we let him come," Amethyst said. "I mean, if we wanna teach him the ways of being a Crystal Gem, then what better way than to bring him on a mission with us?"

"You've got a point there, Amethyst." Ruby turned to Sapphire. "Sapphire, what do you say?"

Sapphire hummed in thought. "I say we let Steven come with us. It isn't likely that he'll be hurt as long as he stays close."

Pearl sighed in defeat upon learning that letting Steven come with them was the majority vote. "Alright. You can come, Steven, but just remember to stay close-" She was interrupted by Steven's happy cheers.

"Yes! I'll start packing!" Steven ran up the stairs to his bedroom loft and immediately began stuffing things in his backpack; an umbrella in case it rained, some snacks, a life raft, some crossword puzzles, just a few essential items. Steven wondered what else he should pack when he heard an inpatient Ruby yell, "Steven! C'mon! We don't have all day, y'know!"

"Coming!" Steven made his way down to the Warp Pad when he heard a high-pitched squeaking noise. He looked down to see that he stepped on a rubber T-bone steak. He picked it up and squeaked it again, giving an amused chuckle. "A squeaky steak? You should come in handy." He tossed out the first-aid kit he packed and replaced it with the steak.

"What's taking so long?!"

"I'm coming!" Steven hastily zipped up his backpack and ran down the stairs to get on the Warp Pad with the rest of the Gems.

"Did you pack everything we might need?" Pearl asked.

"Mm-hm!" Steven replied.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

The Warp Pad lit up underneath them, and the Crystal Gems were all surrounded by a shroud of cyan light as they warped to their destination. Steven was still not used to warping. While the rest of the Gems managed to land perfectly on their feet, Steven landed on his face again. Pearl helped him up as he dusted himself off.

"Here it is," Sapphire said. "The Solar Spire." Steven looked around to take in everything. It looked a lot like the hologram Pearl showed him, only it looked more decrepit; most of the pillars looked like they were falling apart and had kudzu vines wrapped around them. The plants on the surrounding islands and the island they were currently standing on were overgrown. All around, there was a vast sea of white clouds stretching as far as the eye could see. It was also quite windy.

Pearl frowned as she looked at the state of the place. "This place has been abandoned for thousands of years. Without the Suspension Core in place, everything has fallen into ruin."

"And it's also falling out of the sky as we speak, which is why we gotta get the Suspension Core back in place pronto! C'mon!" Ruby said as she ran forward.

"Ruby, wait!" Sapphire cried out to her. The red Gem just kept running towards a stone bridge, which she didn't notice was collapsed until she nearly fell off the edge before she caught herself. The other end of the bridge was over a mile away, and where there should have been more of the bridge, there was nothing but cloudy skies for miles down.

"The bridge is in disrepair, and the gap is too wide to jump over. I can glide over it, but the rest of you will need to find some other way to get across."

"How?" Pearl asked.

Steven took notice of how strong the wind was blowing where they were, and remembered that he had packed an umbrella. Something clicked in his head as he got an idea. "I packed an umbrella!"

"Yeah?" Ruby replied. "What are you suggesting?"

"We can use my umbrella to fly across!"

"I dunno. Will that work?" Ruby turned to Sapphire.

Sapphire hummed in thought. "I can see a 93 percent chance of success."

"And what about the other 7 percent?" Pearl asked anxiously, fiddling with her tie.

"You plummet to certain doom."

There was a beat of silence before Amethyst shrugged and said "Eh, it's better than nothing."

"You go ahead, Sapphire," Steven said as he took his umbrella out of his backpack. "The rest of us will meet you on the other side."

"C'mon, Sapph, let's ride!" Ruby climbed onto Sapphire's back, and the blue Gem flew over the huge gap at near supersonic speed. A second later, the two were on the other side of the bridge, waving to Steven.

"Okay, everyone, grab onto me!" The Gems all took hold of Steven, with Pearl's arms tightly wrapped around Steven's shoulders and Amethyst grabbing both Pearl and Steven's waists. "You guys ready?"

"No!" Pearl said.

"Let 'er rip, Ste-man!" Amethyst said.

"Okay, here we go!" Steven opened his umbrella and the next thing anyone knew, the group suddenly flew forwards at incredible speed as the wind carried them over to their next stop. Steven laughed with glee as Amethyst whooped and hollered. Meanwhile, Pearl was clinging onto Steven for dear life, squealing in fear with her eyes shut as tightly as she could manage.

* * *

When he saw Ruby and Sapphire underneath them, Steven closed his umbrella and the three tumbled onto the soft, overgrown grass below.

Pearl opened her eyes and looked around. "I... I don't believe it. It actually worked!"

"Never underestimate the wonders of human technology," Steven said as he put his closed umbrella back in his backpack.

"Let's keep going," Sapphire said as she and the rest of the Crystal Gems continued on their mission. They passed by dozens of tall marble pillars and statues in various stages of disrepair. The stone path they were walking on was also cracked with a few potholes here and there.

"Just look at all of this damage," Pearl complained as she observed their surroundings. "To think all of these pillars once stood so tall and proud." She went over to a statue that had most of its head missing. "Most of the statues here used to be of whole Gems. This one used to have a head. Hopefully, once we get the Suspension Core back into place, we'll be able to fix this place up as good as new."

The group froze at the entrance of the Solar Spire, which was guarded by a large, yellow beast with a long, thick mane of white hair. Its mouth was wide with large, sharp teeth protruding from its lower jaw, and it had two long, slightly curved horns where its eyes should have been. Its front legs were very thick, and its huge front paws looked more like clawed hands. Its back legs were thinner, and its back feet resembled hooves. It was lying down in such a way as to indicate that it was sleeping.

"What is it?" Steven asked, to which Pearl hastily shushed him, putting a hand over his mouth.

"It's a Rough Citrine," she whispered, being careful not to wake the beast up. "This one once guarded the Solar Spire from any low-ranking Gems trying to get in without permission. Thankfully, it's asleep, so we'll be able to sneak past it without being detected as long as we don't make any-"

Steven sneezed loudly, and the Rough Citrine picked up its head, having been woken from its slumber. It rose to its feet and roared loudly, startling the Crystal Gems. Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl summoned their weapons as the Citrine charged forward. Amethyst tried to use her whip on it, only for the beast to catch it in its jaws and fling her into a nearby pillar. Pearl then tried to use her spear to subdue the Rough Citrine, jumping and dodging each time it swiped at her with its paws or tried to gore her with its horns. "Settle down, won't you?! We _need_ to get in there! We're on a _mission!_" As this was happening, Sapphire was holding back a furious Ruby, who was practically trembling in her grasp as she fought the urge to pound the Rough Citrine to pieces.

Meanwhile, Steven was digging in his backpack for something that might help with the situation. He took out the squeaky steak he packed, and suddenly got an idea. He made a ring with his thumb and index finger and blew, whistling to get everyone's attention, including the Rough Citrine's.

"You want the steak, boy? Do ya?" Steven asked playfully while squeaking the steak a couple of times. The Citrine assumed a playful bowing position like that of a dog. "Go fetch!" Steven threw it as far away from the Solar Spire's entrance as he could, and the Citrine bounded over to it and began playing with it like a big puppy dog before rolling off the edge of the island.

The Crystal Gems all ran over to the edge and watched as the Rough Citrine fell for miles, still playing with the rubber steak.

"Well, _that_ got it outta the way," Amethyst said.

"Alright, we're almost there," Pearl said. "Let's go save this once-magnificent piece of Gem history!" The group all ran inside the Spire and up the long spiral staircase to get where they needed to go. They stopped at the topmost level, which contained a heart-shaped pedestal.

* * *

"This is it, Gems," Ruby said triumphantly as they all walked over to it. "The moment of truth!"

"All that needs to be done now is put the Suspension Core on its pedestal, and the Solar Spire will be saved," Sapphire said.

Pearl put a hand to her glowing gemstone as she took the Suspension Core out. She handed it to Steven. "Steven, would you like to do the honors?"

"Me?" Steven asked incredulously. "You mean it?"

"Mm-hmm." Pearl nodded her head yes. "You've already helped us twice today, so I figured it would only be fair if you helped us again a third time."

Steven took the Suspension Core from her. "Okay. I have to be very careful with it." Steven slowly put the Suspension Core up to the pedestal before everything suddenly started shaking. Steven and the Gems floated upwards as the Solar Spire started falling faster.

"What's happening?!" Steven cried as he clutched the Suspension Core to his chest.

"We're falling right out of the sky!" Pearl cried. "We need to get the Suspension Core on its pedestal quickly before we fall into the ocean!"

Steven tried to swim to the pedestal as everything around him became a panicked haze. The Suspension Core flew out of his grasp inches away from the top of the pedestal before hovering over it, and everyone fell to the floor as gravity returned. The Solar Spire was suspended in the air once again.

"Steven, you did it!" Amethyst said as everyone stood back up.

"Did I?" he asked.

"You sure did, kiddo!" Ruby gave him a congratulatory slap on the back. "You were a big help today!"

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" Pearl ran up to him and locked him in a tight hug. "You handled everything so well!"

"Thanks, guys." Steven took off his backpack and proudly held it up above his head. "I wouldn't have gotten it done without my totally awesome cheeseburger backpack!"

"Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack! Cheeseburger backpack!" The Gems, starting with Amethyst, who lifted Steven over her head, cheered as they made it back outside the Solar Spire. The place and all of its surrounding islands were now hovering roughly two feet over the ocean.

"So, uh, how are we gonna get home?" Amethyst asked as he put Steven back on his feet. The Gems all looked at him.

"What? Oh, right." Steven took out the life raft he packed. "I packed a raft!" He inflated the raft and threw it onto the water below before he promptly jumped on. "Come on!" The rest of the Crystal Gems followed suit, first Amethyst, then Pearl, followed by Ruby and Sapphire, with Sapphire in Ruby's arms.

"It's going to take approximately 6 hours to paddle home," Sapphire said, followed by a stunned silence.

"Anyone wanna do a crossword puzzle to pass the time?" Steven asked, taking out the puzzle books he packed.


	4. What Are You Doing Here?

**Dragontitan: I'm glad you liked it.**

It was another sunny day in Beach City, and Steven thought he would enjoy it by going on a nice bike ride around the boardwalk. He happily rode down the street when a flyer stapled to one of the telephone poles caught his eye. He stopped his bike and walked it over to the wooden pole to read it. The flyer was dark blue like the night sky, and had images of fireworks of all different colors of the rainbow going off. In bold, neon green letters, it read:

_Beach City Fireworks Festival Tonight!_

_Time: 7:00-11:30 PM_

_Place: Funland Amusement Park_

_Free Admission for kids 12 and under_

_Bring Your Family And Friends!_

"There's gonna be a fireworks festival at Funland tonight!" Steven cheered. "I'll bet the Gems are gonna love this!" Steven ripped the flyer off the pole and rode as fast as he could back to the Temple. He ran up the stairs and opened the door to his beach house as wide as it would go. He cupped a hand around his mouth and shouted: "Pearl! Amethyst! Sapphire! Ruby! You guys back yet?!"

No response. Steven just sat down on his couch and looked at the flyer in his hands. The fireworks festival starts at 7:00, and the Gems normally returned from missions at around the early afternoon, so Steven guessed that there would be plenty of time for everyone to get ready. Though he would have to ask if the Gems wanted to go, and if they didn't, then it was fine by him, but then they'd be missing out on a lot of fun.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the Warp Pad being activated. Steven looked and saw Pearl standing on the Warp Pad holding some swords in her arms. "Pearl!" Steven ran up to her.

"Hello, Steven," Pearl greeted. "How are you this fine morning?"

"Great! Look what I've got!" Steven showed her the flyer he had. Pearl crouched down to look at the flyer at eye-level and put an index finger on her chin in thought.

"It looks like a flyer for some kind of fireworks display," she concluded.

"Not just any fireworks display. It's for Beach City's annual fireworks festival! It's being held at Funland at 7:00 o'clock tonight, and I was gonna ask if you and the rest of the Gems wanted to go."

"I'll think about it, Steven, but for right now, there's something I need to take care of in my room in the Temple. I found some new swords I wanted to add to my collection." And with that, Pearl walked off the Warp Pad to the Temple Door behind it. The Temple Door was white and had a light grey star on the front. At each point, there was a round stone that was the color of each of the Crystal Gems' gemstones, including his late mother's. Pearl's stone and the white stone on the Door both glowed, and the Door opened up to her room, which she promptly disappeared into, not noticing that she dropped one of her swords.

"Hey, Pearl, you-" But the Temple Door closed before Steven could finish his sentence. He walked over to it and lifted his shirt to expose his gemstone. "Temple Door, open!" he commanded. But the Door didn't react. Steven cleared his throat and tried again. "Temple Door, open!" Again, the Door didn't open. Steven gave a sigh of defeat, then gave a startled shout when he was hit from above by a water balloon. He looked up to see that his assailant was none other than Amethyst, who was laughing and sitting at the edge of Steven's loft, a pile of water balloons beside her.

"Boom! Headshot!"

"Amethyst!" Steven groaned. "You nearly got my flyer wet!"

"Sorry, dude." Amethyst jumped down to the floor. "What's that flyer for anyway?"

Steven showed her the flyer. "Beach City's annual fireworks festival is happening tonight at Funland! I was gonna ask you guys if you wanted to go. I already asked Pearl and she said she'd think about it and went in her room in the Temple," He picked up Pearl's sword off the floor. "but she dropped one of her swords and now I'm trying to get in to give it back to her. So, did you wanna go, and also could you help me get in there?"

"As long as there's food, and also sure I could. Anything for you, li'l man." Amethyst tousled Steven's dark, pink-tinted curls.

"Thanks, Amethyst."

"No problemo." Amethyst went up to the Temple Door and pulled down the neckline of her sweater. Both her gemstone and the purple stone on the Door glowed, the Door opening to her room. Amethyst gestured for Steven to come follow her, to which he obeyed.

* * *

Amethyst's room looked like a purple cave with glowing crystals growing from the walls acting as a light source. Everywhere he looked, there were rock formations and junk piles of various sizes.

"Here we are!" Amethyst said with her arms spread open. "Welcome to my room!"

"Wow. It's really messy in here," Steven observed.

"Thanks. I try. Especially since Pearl keeps coming in here to clean it all up, then I have to start all over." Amethyst kicked over a small pile of junk.

"Would you like some help?"

"Be my guest."

Steven kicked the big junk pile behind him, causing it to topple over, though he got out of the way just in time.

"Nice work, Steven," Amethyst said, marveling the new mess in her room. "This place is looking better already."

"Glad I could be of service! But I really gotta get to Pearl's room so I can give this back to her." Steven held up Pearl's sword.

"Right. Don't worry, I know the way. Follow me." Steven followed Amethyst to a waterfall that flowed into a small pool in the floor. "That waterfall leads from Pearl's room to mine. Her stuff falls down here occasionally and she always thinks I took it. I don't know why she always has it out for me."

"I'm sorry." Steven changed the subject back to his current objective, looking up at where the waterfall started. "How do I get up there?"

"Let me take care of that for ya," Amethyst said as he picked up Steven over her head. She then tossed him over the waterfall and he landed in a body of water. He flailed around before regaining his composure and taking in his surroundings. He was waist-deep in a pool of crystalline water, and all around him, there were pillar-like structures of various heights that appeared to be made of water, most likely kept together with some kind of Gem magic. He could see Pearl on top of one of the water pillars, surrounded by a circle of floating swords which she was carefully adjusting so that their blades were all pointing downwards.

"Hi, Pearl!" Steven called out to her, waving her dropped sword, which he held by the sheath.

"Steven!" Pearl cried, startled by Steven's presence. "What are you doing here?!"

"Amethyst let me in her room and threw me up to _your_ room," Steven answered. "I came here because you dropped one of the new swords for your collection, and I thought I'd give it back to you."

Pearl groaned as she clutched her stone in frustration. "Of _course_ Amethyst let you in the Temple. Steven, don't move. I'll come down and grab it."

"It's okay! I can doggy-paddle it over to you!" Steven swam through the water to the pillar Pearl was standing on.

"Steven, no! You need to stay right where you are! The inside of the Temple is far too dangerous for someone like you! One false move and you could end up hurt or worse!"

"It's fine!" Steven insisted. "I got this! I'm almost-" The current suddenly shifted, and Steven was headed down another waterfall. "-_theeeeere_!"

"Steven!"

Steven frantically tried to swim up the waterfall, but he just kept falling down.

* * *

He eventually fell into another room in the Temple. This room was a blend of reds and blues, and the room's main light source was a bright light seeping through the large cracks in the violet floor. There were tall, dimly-glowing crystal structures all around, with some even jutting out of the ceiling. The red ones felt hot to the touch, while the blue ones felt ice cold.

Steven could hear a familiar voice giggling nearby. His curiosity got the better of him, and he ran to find the source. Soon enough, he came across a tall, basket-like structure with fuschia curtains concealing the entranceway. Steven concluded that this was the source of the giggling and drew the curtains to find Ruby and Sapphire, who were sitting on a large, indigo cushion and enjoying each other's company. Ruby had her arms around Sapphire's waist as she kissed her on the neck, eliciting a ticklish giggle from the blue Gem, something which was rather unusual for her, as she usually kept her emotions hidden from others.

Steven blushed at the sight. "Um... Hi."

The two Gems looked over to see the half-Gem boy, their faces now painted with shock.

"Hello, Steven," Sapphire simply said.

"What the- _What_ are you doing in our room?!" Ruby shouted in a mix of anger and embarrassment. "How the slag did you even get in the Temple?!"

Sapphire put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Language, Ruby."

Steven drew in a deep breath and began to speak quickly. "Amethyst brought me into her room and threw me over a waterfall to Pearl's room so I could give her back her new sword she dropped but then I fell down another waterfall while I was swimming it over to her and now here I am." He then exhaled and said, "I'm sorry, I'll leave you to whatever you were doing earlier."

"Hold on," Sapphire said. "I get the sense that you wanted to ask us something."

"Actually, yeah. There _is_ something I wanted to ask you. I don't have the flyer with me, but Beach City's annual fireworks festival is happening at Funland tonight. l already asked Pearl if she wanted to go and she said that she would think about it, and I asked Amethyst and she said she'd go as long as there was food. So, did you guys wanna go? And if not, that's okay. I'm not gonna force you."

Ruby and Sapphire looked at each other for a moment.

"Sure," Ruby said. "Sounds fun."

"I suppose we could attend the festivities for a while," Sapphire said.

"Great. It starts at 7:00. Now, how do I get out of here?" Steven began looking for an exit.

"I'll help you. Come on," Ruby said as she exited their chamber and put her boots on. (She had them off while she and Sapphire were enjoying their private time.) She took Steven by the arm and led him to one of the walls of their room. Steven stepped on one of the cracks in the floor, which gave out underneath his weight, and he fell through with a scream.

He heard Ruby and Sapphire calling out his name as he kept falling and landed on a cylindrical, glassy surface, which he slid down to the stone floor below. He looked around to see where he was now. There was a large, round pit of lava in the center of the floor. All along the walls, there was a series of long glass tubes connected to a huge, round glass formation on the ceiling. The formation began painting the entire room with a red glow, and the lava started bubbling.

Steven had no idea where he was or what was happening, just that he was somewhere in the Temple. Suddenly, a giant hand made of lava rose out of the pit and tried to grab at Steven. He ran from it as quickly as he could, trying in vain to evade its deadly grasp.

Ruby jumped down from the newly-made hole in the ceiling, followed by Sapphire, who rather hovered gently down to the floor. Pearl and Amethyst also dropped in to see what was going on. "Steven!" Ruby said. "What happened?!"

"I don't know!" Steven cried. "I just fell into this other room in the Temple and now this giant hand made of lava is chasing me!"

"This is the Burning Room!" Pearl said. "This room holds the Heart of the Crystal Temple! Did you touch any part of it?"

"I think I maybe fell on one of its veins, if that thing up on the ceiling is supposed to be the Temple's Heart?"

"Steven, the Heart of the Crystal Temple is never to be tampered with while it's running! Now the Temple has sensed you as a threat and it won't calm down until you're neutralized!"

"What's that mean?!"

"It means now it wants to _kill_ you, dude!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"This wouldn't have happened if _you_ hadn't let Steven come into the Temple in the first place!" Pearl told her.

"Oh, sure! Blame everything on me!" Amethyst retorted while throwing her arms in the air.

"That's enough, you two!" Ruby cut in, pushing the two of them away from each other. "We need to save Steven before he becomes charred Diamond!"

"Ruby's right," Sapphire said. She then turned to Pearl. "Pearl, go and shut down the Heart."

"Right." Pearl ran to do just that.

"Amethyst, you keep Steven safe while Ruby tries to wrestle the lava hand into submission."

"You got it!" Amethyst jumped up into the hole in the ceiling.

Meanwhile, poor Steven was still being chased around by the molten hand, screaming for mercy with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry! I never should've come in the Temple! I just wanted to do something nice for one of my friends!" Suddenly, Ruby jumped in between him and the hand and pushed it back, her gauntlet appearing on her left hand. "Ruby?"

"I've got it under control," she said through gritted teeth. "Run!"

Steven did as he was told, and suddenly, he was caught by Amethyst's whip and pulled up to Ruby and Sapphire's room. "You okay, dude?" she asked as she unsummoned her whip. Steven silently nodded.

Pearl ran over to the switch for the Crystal Temple's Heart, and placed her hand on it to shut it down. The Heart's glow died down, and the lava hand slid back into the pit, disappearing into a pool of lava.

Amethyst and Steven looked down from their perch. "Looks like it's safe to drop in now." She grabbed Steven and jumped down to the Burning Room floor. Pearl put her hand back on the switch, and the Temple's Heart came back to life, retaining its reddish glow. Steven gasped as he hid behind Ruby.

Sapphire put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Steven."

* * *

The Crystal Gems all turned to the Temple Door, which opened to let everyone back into Steven's beach house. Steven just looked down at the floor, not saying anything.

Amethyst unzipped her fanny pack and took out the flyer Steven dropped. "So, uh, did you still wanna go to that fireworks thing?"

"Actually, I think I've had enough excitement for one day," Steven said. "I mean, there's always next year, right?"

"Well, why don't we have a movie night right here in the beach house instead?" Pearl suggested.

"Sure," Ruby said.

"That sounds nice," Sapphire said.

"I'm down," Amethyst said.

"As long as there are no giant lava hands in it," Steven said.

"Wonderful! I'll get the DVR set up!" Pearl headed up the stairs to Steven's loft.

"I'll make the popcorn!" Amethyst headed to the kitchen.

"I'll set up the blanket fort!" Steven headed upstairs after Pearl.

"We'll help!" Ruby and Sapphire headed to the couch to grab the cushions.

And so Steven and the Gems enjoyed their night in. (The movie was completely free of any giant lava hands, of course.)


	5. We Can Be Friends

**Dragontitan: I'm glad you enjoyed it.**

**Guest: Yeah, that is how it be sometimes.**

Steven and Amethyst were standing on the beach with an important goal in mind. Steven was wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket, per Amethyst's suggestion.

"I don't know about this, Amethyst."

"You got this, Steven! Just play it cool." Amethyst nudged him towards a dark-skinned girl who was sitting on the sand and reading a book. He took a deep breath before slowly walking over to her, shoulders arched and elbows bent. He cleared his throat and said:

"Hey. You come around here often?"

The girl looked up from her book. "What?"

Steven's face took on a bright red hue. "Um... I mean... Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy covered his face and ran off back to his beach house.

"Dude, what are you doing? All you had to do was talk to her!" Amethyst ran after him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire were inside the beach house, discussing the recent wake of a new Rough Gem that was on the attack. "I've never seen one so big before," Pearl said. "What are we going to do when it reaches Beach City?"

"We'll fight it, of course!" Ruby replied. "We've encountered tougher enemies before, haven't we?"

Steven ran inside and quickly shut the door behind him. He made a sound somewhere between a groan and a sigh as he sunk to the floor.

"Oh, hey, kid," Ruby greeted. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Steven replied, standing back up and taking off the leather jacket and sunglasses he was wearing. "Don't worry about it."

Then Amethyst came in and said "Steven's been trying to talk to a girl on the beach. He thinks she's _real_ cute."

Steven's face flushed red again. "Amethyst!"

"Oh, really?" Pearl prodded, bending down to Steven's eye level. "So, what's this girl like? Is she nice?"

"I haven't talked to her yet," Steven answered shyly, putting his sunglasses in his jacket's pocket and hanging the jacket on the coat rack. "I don't really know what to say to her."

"Start by introducing yourself," Sapphire advised. "Then let things flow naturally from there."

"Yeah, and ditch the jacket and glasses," Ruby said. "You should just be yourself. That's how I won over my precious Sapphy." Sapphire smiled and kissed her on the cheek in response.

"Thanks, guys. I'll go talk to her." And with that, Steven went out back to the beach with his confidence restored.

* * *

Steven was now walking towards the girl, who was still sitting there, reading her book. Steven cleared his throat and said "Hi, my name's Steven."

The girl looked up at him. "Hi, Steven. My name's Connie."

"Nice to meet you, Connie." Steven sat down in the sand with her. "So, what are you doing out on the beach by yourself?"

"I don't really have any friends," Connie answered sadly, casting her bespectacled eyes down at the sand. "We move a lot because of my dad's security guard job, so I never really got the chance to make any."

"Well, we can be friends."

"Really?"

"Of course! It's always nice to have someone to hang out with when you move to a new place, right?"

Suddenly, the ground trembled beneath them.

"What was that?" Connie asked.

"I dunno. Probably some kind of Gem monster! Let's go ask the Gems about it!" Steven grabbed Connie's hand and they ran back to the Crystal Temple.

"Who are the Gems? What Gem monster?"

"The Crystal Gems are a group of magical alien warriors who fight enemy soldiers and monsters from their home planet. They let me come on missions sometimes."

Steven and Connie got to the front of Steven's beach house when the door flung open and the Gems all ran out with their weapons. Sapphire turned to Steven and said "Steven, a Rough Kunzite has come to wreak havoc on Beach City. Be sure to keep your new friend safe." And with that, she went after the rest of the Gems.

"You wanna watch the fight?" Steven asked Connie. "From a safe distance, of course."

"I don't know. My parents don't really let me watch that kind of stuff."

"Come on, it'll be cool! At least until the monster is killed, but I usually look away when that happens."

"Well, I guess, as long as we watch from a distance."

"Great. Let's go." Steven grabbed Connie by the hand and led her to the top of the cliff the Temple was carved into. "We should get a good view of everything from up here."

* * *

The two new friends looked down at the beach to see the Gems fighting a large, lamprey-like monster with six stubby tentacles around its circular mouth. Its long body was a pale lilac color and though it was hard to see its gemstone from where they were standing, it appeared to be located just below where its chin would be.

They watched as Amethyst used her rolling attack to try and stun the beast, to little avail as it just lunged at the group with its mouth wide open. Pearl sliced off one of its mouth tentacles with her spear, which only served to agitate it more. Ruby's gauntlet flew off her hand to form a fist-shaped missile aimed at the monster's face, only to dissapear in a burst of red light when the beast bit on it with its sharp, saw-like teeth.

"It looks like this fight is gonna last a while," Steven said. "You wanna come in my house and get some snacks?"

"Okay." Steven and Connie made their way down the cliff before the Rough Kunzite took notice of them and flew towards them with all of the intent to devour them.

"Run!" Steven grabbed Connie by the wrist and they ran away from the monster as fast as they could. They ran until they reached the Big Donut, Beach City's resident donut shop. "In here!" Steven opened the door and he and Connie ran inside. Steven leaned against the door while Connie rested her hands on her knees. They were both panting from exhaustion.

"We should be safe in here for right now," Steven said between breaths.

"Hey, Steven!" Steven recognized the voice as Sadie Miller, one of the Big Donut's employees. "Who's your new friend?"

"Hi, Sadie. This is Connie. She just moved here."

Connie shyly waved at the older blonde girl. "Hello."

"Cool. You guys want anything?"

"Two jelly-filled donuts please. One for me, and one for my friend."

"Oh, no. I don't want anything," Connie said. "My parents don't let me have anything with trans fats, artificial flavoring, or excess salt and sugar."

"Really?" Steven asked incredulously. "I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure the Big Donut has something without any of that stuff."

"All we really have is water," Sadie said. "Would you like a cup?"

"Sure," Connie said.

Sadie served them their respective orders; one jelly-filled donut for Steven, and a small paper cup of water for Connie. "That'll be $2.99 for all of it."

"Thank you." Steven and Connie were just about to tuck in when the Rough Kunzite suddenly burst in and charged at the two kids with the Gems close behind it, still wielding their weapons. Steven slapped a 3 dollar bill on the counter before he and Connie took off running out of the Big Donut's fire exit, the Kunzite flying after them and the Gems giving chase. Sadie just stared in shock at the resulting damage before calling her co-worker over.

"Hey, Lars? You should probably come look at this."

The lanky Filipino teen in question came in from the break room, not having heard the commotion with his earbuds in. "Yeah, what is it?" Lars took a look around, and he let out an inarticulate scream of shock. "Again?!"

* * *

Steven and Connie were running for somewhere else to hide, apologizing to a few townspeople as a few mailboxes and trash cans were knocked over in the chase. "Steven, why is that thing chasing us?!" Connie asked.

"I don't know," Steven answered. "What I do know is that it's pretty big, and if we slow down for even a second, it'll probably eat us. But I think the Gems can get it under control. They seem to know a lot about this type of stuff. You should really get to know them. They're really cool!"

"Sounds like you have a lot of respect for them, huh?" Connie replied.

"Of course I do! They're the protectors of all life on Earth! And that includes you. I was instructed to keep you safe, and that's what I aim to do. Now, come on!" Steven grabbed Connie's hand and started running to his left, the beast tailing close behind them.

* * *

They kept running until they reached the junkyard, and hid in one of the scrapped cars. "Okay, so we just gotta keep quiet, and maybe it'll leave us alone. I'm sure everything will turn out fine." He noticed that Connie was sitting in a fetal position, crying with her face buried in her knees. "Are you okay, Connie?"

"I don't know," Connie took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. "How do I know everything will turn out fine? How do we know if that thing's not just gonna try to eat us again? My parents are gonna be worried sick when they find out I'm gone. What's worse is that they'll probably be the only ones who notice my sudden disappearance because they're the only people who care about me!"

"That's not true! I'm sure there are lots of people who care about you."

"Like who?"

"Well... I care about you."

"Stop right there, you monster!" They heard Pearl shout. They looked out of the window to see four of the Crystal Gems, Pearl, Amethyst, Ruby, and Sapphire, standing there with their weapons out. (Except Sapphire because she has no weapon) "We're not letting you lay a tentacle on those children!"

The Rough Kunzite roared and lunged at them. Luckily, they all jumped out of the way before the Kunzite could do any damage. Pearl shot a laser out of the blade of her spear at the Kunzite midair, making a sizeable crack in its side. "Nice one, P!" Amethyst complimented as she used her whip to grab a nearby engine which she chucked at the monster, only for it to flick the engine back at her with its tail, though Amethyst was able to dodge it by rolling into a ball.

Meanwhile, Sapphire quickly glided over to the car Steven and Connie were hiding in and told them "It's okay. We have this under control. The two of you get to someplace safe." Steven and Connie obeyed and ran out of the car to find somewhere safer to take cover. They looked around, scanning for the best place to hide until the Rough Kunzite had been dealt with. They decided to duck behind a large pile of rubble.

Steven tried to think of something to say to Connie to try and break the ice, since they didn't really have the chance to earlier. He noticed the glow bracelet on her wrist. "So... I like your glow bracelet."

"Thanks. I got it at the parade the other day."

"I think I saw you there with your parents. I was riding on the car wash float. Did you see me?"

"Oh yeah! You had bubbles in your hair!"

Steven blushed and giggled, brushing his fingers through his curls. "Yeah. I was going for a scrub brush look."

"I really wanted to see you again. I've seen you with your friends a few times while I was in town. I thought you were really cool, and I wanted to talk to you and get to know you. But I could never work up the nerve to approach you, so I just sat on the beach and read."

Suddenly, a scrapped car flew through the air and landed on an old car that looked like it was made in the 60's. One of its headlights turned on, (Only one because the other was broken) and the Rough Kunzite flew towards Steven and Connie's hiding place. They clutched each other in fear before seeing it flailing around with both cars in its mouth, tearing them to bits as it apparently tried to eat them.

"It likes shiny things," Steven mused. An idea formed in his head as he glanced at a large, rectangular device with a red button next to it. "Connie, give me your bracelet."

"What for?"

"I have an idea. Stay here. I don't want you to get hurt." Steven took the glow bracelet out of Connie's hand and ran out of their hiding place over to the Gems. He whistled to grab everyone's attention. "Hey, Kunzite! I've got something shiny for ya!" He waved the bracelet in the air, and the Kunzite lunged at him as he ran off taunting, "Can't catch me!"

"Steven, what are you doing?!" Pearl cried as she and the rest of the Gems ran after them. "Are you _trying_ to get eaten?!"

"It's okay! This is all part of my plan! One of you guys go over to the car crusher so you can crush the Rough Kunzite, then Beach City will be safe and sound again!"

"Will that work?" Ruby asked Sapphire.

"It's highly probable that it will work, but the rough Kunzite will need to be incapacitated first."

"I'm sure that won't be a problem!" Steven ran over to the car crusher and stood at its entrance, waving the glow bracelet in front of it with the intent to lure the Kunzite in. "Here, Kunzite, Kunzite, Kunzite! Come and get it!" The Kunzite lunged toward the bracelet with it mouth open, only for Steven to pull it away as the beast was frozen solid by Sapphire's ice magic when its head was in the car crusher's opening. Pearl then ran over and pressed the button, crushing the frozen Kunzite's head into a pile of rubble, ice chunks, and cyan liquid. Of course, Steven looked away while covering his ears, not wanting to see or hear the monster's demise.

* * *

Connie peaked out from her hiding place to see if the coast was clear, then walked over to the Crystal Gems, who were congratulating Steven on his plan. "So, thanks for keeping me safe. I really like how your idea turned out. You have to admit it was really smart!"

Steven blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks. Here's your bracelet back." He handed Connie back her bracelet, and she handed him a piece of paper. "What's this?"

"It's my phone number. That way you can call me if you ever want to hang out again. In spite of almost getting eaten by a giant lamprey monster, I had fun today."

"Dude, you got her phone number!" Amethyst exclaimed excitedly. "She _totally_ likes you back!"

Steven blushed harder. "Amethyst!"

"Hey!" Ruby punched Amethyst in the back with her gauntlet. "Quit messing with him."

"Jeez, _sorry._"

Steven slapped a hand to his forehead as he remembered something. "Dang, I just remembered I could've summoned my shield to protect you!"

Connie's eyes widened. "You have a shield?"

"Yeah! You weren't there for it, but I learned to summon my Gem weapon while Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst and Pearl were attacked by this _huge_ Rough Nephrite."

"It's true," Pearl told her.

"I can show it to you right now." Steven lifted up his shirt to expose his gemstone. "Shield, activate!" Nothing happened. Steven sighed as Connie stifled a giggle. "Well, it was round and pink and had a rose design on it. It was really cool! You seriously should've seen it!"

"Well, I should be getting home," Connie said. "My parents will be worried sick if I'm late." And she ran off to the bus stop.

"Bye, Connie! It was nice making friends with you!" Steven waved her goodbye as he and the Gems began making their own way home.

"It was nice making friends with you too!"

As soon as Connie was out of earshot, Pearl began prodding Steven with questions. (She felt it rude to pry while Connie was still around) "So, tell me. What's Connie like? Did she tell you her favorite kind of tea? How does she feel about the art of fencing?"

"Yeah, I kinda wanted to know that too," Ruby said. "Does she take any fighting classes? 'Cause I happen to know a thing or two about hand-to-hand combat."

"Ugh, not you guys too!"

"Come on, we're curious!" Pearl insisted. "You really should tell us everything."

Steven just groaned as the Gems kept asking him questions all the way back to the Temple.


	6. The S Squad

**Dragontitan: Ask and ye shall receive. ;)**

Steven was hanging for dear life onto Sapphire's skirts as she hung onto the edge of one of the glowing tiles. When he looked down, he saw one of his pinkish-red flip flops fall into the magma below.

"Steven, what have I told you?" Sapphire spoke sternly, yet still had that trademark coolness to her voice that Steven always knew.

"I'm so sorry!" Steven cried with tears running down his face. "I knew this mission would be too intense for me, but I insisted I come along anyway! Maybe I'm not cut out for this sort of stuff after all..."

* * *

-Earlier-

"Get ready, kiddo," Ruby said. "This mission is gonna be intense."

"I'm ready for anything!"

"Are you sure?" Pearl asked as the Warp Pad brought the Crystal Gems to a field of wild strawberries littered with discarded weapons and pieces of armor. Steven managed to land on his feet this time. "You barely managed to get through the last mission we brought you on, and the Solar Spire was nowhere near as intense as this."

They walked off the Warp Pad to their destination.

"But I'm the one who got us inside the Solar Spire in the first place. If it weren't for my cheeseburger backpack, the whole place would've sunk to the bottom of the ocean!"

Amethyst chuckled in response as she ruffled Steven's hair. "Yeah, that was pretty awesome how you helped us out back there."

"Sure was," Steven agreed. "That's why I brought more important stuff this time around." Sapphire had helped him pack his backpack so that it contained more useful items, such as a first-aid kit. Steven reached into his backpack and took out his ukulele. "Like my ukulele!"

"Steven, why would you think _that_ could ever be important?" Pearl asked him in mild annoyance.

"I dunno, in case I need to make up a new song?" He tuned his ukulele and began playing it.

"Oh, here we go on another mission,

La la la, something that rhymes with mission,

Here we go on another quest,

We're sure to make it through 'cause were the best!"

Steven tripped and fell into one of the strawberry bushes, his hands and knees breaking his fall.

"Steven!" Pearl ran over to help him up. "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I'm fine," Steven assured her. "My hands are just a bit sticky is all." He licked some strawberry juice off his hands.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about letting you come on this one," Pearl sighed. "Maybe we should take you home."

"No, it's fine!" Steven took a pack of wet wipes out of his backpack and wiped his hands clean. "I can take it, really. I'm a Crystal Gem just like you guys."

"That may be," Sapphire spoke coolly. "But you still have much to learn and experience. Come, we're almost there." The Crystal Gems continued onward.

"Where are we going anyway?" Steven asked as he carefully put his ukulele back in his backpack.

"We're going to retrieve the Wailing Stone from the labyrinth it's being held in," Sapphire answered. "But there are many booby traps and other dangerous obstacles waiting for us within, which will make traversing the labyrinth extra difficult."

"Well, that's not gonna be a problem for the Crystal Gems, is it?" Steven asked, flexing his biceps.

"Probably not," Amethyst said with a chuckle. "But you should still be careful not to trigger any traps with that gun show of yours."

"Right. Best keep these bad boys put away for now." And Steven put his hands in his pockets.

* * *

The group made it to a stone wall with a large, rectangular hole cut into it, which Steven could only assume was the entranceway to the labyrinth.

"This is it," Sapphire said.

"So, any ideas on how we'll go about this?" Ruby asked her.

Sapphire hummed in thought. "The labyrinth has four paths that are likely to lead to the Wailing Stone. Each of us should take a different path to see which one is the right one."

"And what if the path the three of us are on is wrong?" Pearl asked.

"It's most likely a simple dead end," Sapphire answered.

"Right, then who's going to look after Steven? We can't exactly trust him on his own while we're all on a mission like this."

"Hey, I'm 12 years old," Steven retorted. "I can handle myself just fine, thank you."

"Steven will go with me," Sapphire said. "I'll be able to foresee any harm that might befall him quicker than any of you, thus, it will be easier for me to protect him. No offense."

"None taken," Amethyst said.

"It's fine," Pearl said.

"When you're right, you're right," Ruby said.

"Come on, everybody!" Steven ran towards the labyrinth's entrance. "Let's go find the Screaming Rock!"

"It's called the _Wailing Stone_," Pearl corrected as he picked him up by the back of his shirt. "And it's not wise to just run into strange labyrinths all willy-nilly!" Her attention turned to Sapphire. "Are you sure bringing him along was a good idea?"

"Ruby and I figured it would be a good way to help him grow into his role as a protector of humanity."

Ruby nodded in agreement. "After all, what better way to learn than from experience?"

"That is a valid point." Pearl put Steven back down and turned him over to look him in the eyes. "But, Steven, you need to be careful. This mission is more dangerous than any of the others we've brought you on in the past. This labyrinth is filled with all sorts of dangerous traps. Can you handle it?"

"Aye-aye, captain!" Steven saluted her.

Sapphire took Steven by the hand and led him to the labyrinth's entrance. "Let's all meet back outside the entrance when one of us has found the Wailing Stone." And the Crystal Gems all walked through the entranceway, Pearl, Ruby, and Amethyst each taking a different path.

* * *

"This isn't so bad," Steven mused as he looked around. He didn't see anything that looked like a trap; no trip wires, no nets covered in leaves, no anything. "I think this'll be easier than you guys said it would-"

"Wait," Sapphire held out her arm in front of him to stop him from taking another step. Suddenly, a long bed of spikes shot up from the ground, then sunk back in after a few seconds, then shot back up, then sunk back down, up, down, up, down. "It's our first obstacle. Hold onto my hand."

Steven did as he was told. "Okay, what are we gonna- _Whooooaaa!"_ Suddenly, Steven was being dragged behind Sapphire like a person-shaped banner as she ran across the spikes while they were down. When they stopped, Steven was holding his head, dizzy from the sudden rush.

"Do you feel alright?" Sapphire asked him, gently brushing her hand against his face.

"Yeah, just kinda dizzy."

"Let's keep moving forward," Steven and Sapphire continued onward. "Surely, one of us is bound to find it before everyone else."

"Who wants to bet we're the ones who find it first?"

"I suppose we might have a _slightly_ higher chance of finding it first," Sapphire replied, allowing a knowing smirk to form on her normally stoic face.

Steven didn't know what exactly she meant by that, but he didn't think to ask her. Right now, he was focused on completing the mission. "Right, 'cause nothing can stop the S Squad!"

"The S Squad?"

"Yeah. That's our team name. S for Steven, and S for Sapphire. We're the S Squad."

"Hm. Clever."

They kept walking when Steven tripped on a wire, though Sapphire caught him before he could fall. Hundreds of small, round holes opened up in the walls of the labyrinth, and hundreds of darts shot out from left to right. Steven clung to Sapphire in fear when a large, transparent pink bubble suddenly appeared around them. Steven opened his eyes, not having realized that he closed them. He looked around in confusion as he saw a bunch of broken darts lying on the ground around them. "What happened?" Steven put a hand to the bubble's glassy interior. "What's this?"

"It appears to be a protective bubble of some sort," Sapphire mused. "Rose Diamond could also summon one, though it wasn't as quite strong as her shield."

"So, I guess it sorta just _popped_ out of nowhere, huh? Get it? 'Cause bubbles pop?"

"I get it."

The bubble vanished as quickly as it appeared, and Steven and Sapphire made a left turn closer to the intended destination. Steven wondered about his Gem powers as he lifted up his shirt to look at his gem. He wondered if he could summon the bubble a second time, then getting through this labyrinth would practically be a breeze. Those couple of times he used his Gem powers almost felt like instinct, like when you touch something hot and you can't help but reel your hand away so you don't get burned. Steven was lost in his thoughts as he bumped into Sapphire, who was standing in front of a path of tiles, some of them glowing a pale white light as the rest were a stoney black.

"To get through this, we must only step on the glowing tiles," Sapphire told him. "We can't risk stepping on the black ones."

"So, like hopscotch, but if we lose, we die?"

"Yes."

Steven gulped, and Sapphire gracefully made her way across the tiled path, taking great care to not step on any of the black tiles. Steven went after her, mimicking her movements as he hopped on the glowing tiles. He lost his balance and inadvertently stepped on a black tile, and suddenly, each of the tiles sunk into a deep pit full of white-hot magma. Steven was now hanging for dear life onto Sapphire's skirts as she hung onto the edge of one of the glowing tiles. When he looked down, he saw one of his pinkish-red flip flops fall into the magma below.

"Steven, what have I told you?" Sapphire spoke sternly, yet still had that trademark coolness to her voice that Steven always knew.

"I'm so sorry!" Steven cried with tears running down his face. "I knew this mission would be too intense for me, but I insisted I come along anyway! Maybe I'm not cut out for this sort of stuff after all..."

"Steven, it's alright. It was an accident. You couldn't have foreseen what would happen."

"But I still stepped on one of the black tiles! And now we're both gonna die because of me!"

"Not if I can help it." Sapphire pulled Steven up and held him in the crook of her arm, then lurched the two of them up into the air, and gently floated back down to the ground. She put Steven on his feet and wiped his tears from his eyes. "It's okay. Everything's okay now."

"Thanks, Sapphire."

Steven and Sapphire kept walking, not saying another word to each other for a good few seconds until Steven decided to break the silence. "So, I was thinking about my Gem powers."

"Hm?"

"You know that bubble I accidentally summoned earlier?"

"Yes."

"I was wondering how I could summon it when we really need it. You know, on purpose. I was wondering how I could summon my shield on purpose too. This kinda stuff is supposed to be easy for a Gem, right?"

"Steven, I've told you in the past that you'll figure everything out in time. It's no different for any young person, be they human or Gem."

"But I thought Gems were born already knowing everything they need to know."

"While that may be the case for some Gems, such as myself, others are taught about their roles in life from a mentor figure, like you are."

Steven thought about what Sapphire said for a few seconds before he bumped into a wall. He looked around, expecting another booby trap. "So, what happened, is this another trap, or...?"

"I believe we just reached a dead end," Sapphire replied. "I suppose when you're right 99.9 percent of the time, you're bound to be wrong sooner or later. In any case, we should head out and see if one of the other Crystal Gems have had any luck." She took hold of Steven's hand, and with the simple command of "Hold on tight," she sped out of the labyrinth, flying over the magma pit that had replaced the tiled path, zooming past the hundreds of holes in the walls, and zipping over the bed of spikes.

* * *

Steven giggled as they stopped outside the labyrinth's entrance. Pearl and Ruby were standing there expectantly, but there was no sign of Amethyst.

"Hey," Ruby greeted. "We've been waiting for you two."

"Now if only Amethyst could hurry up and get here," Pearl said, crossing her arms impatiently.

They all heard an exhausted groan coming from behind them. They looked to see Amethyst standing near the entrance of the labyrinth, one hand against the wall. She looked absolutely ragged; her hair was a mess (more of a mess than usual anyway), her skin and clothes were charred, and she had what looked like a bear trap clamped onto her ankle. She fell over face-first onto the ground.

"Did any of you find the Wailing Stone?" Sapphire asked.

Pearl's gemstone glowed, and she took out a medium-sized, cylindrical, gold-patterned stone structure with a hole in it. "I've got it right here! With this, we'll be able to receive transmissions from all over the galaxy!"

"Wonderful," Sapphire said. "Let's all go home and rest for awhile."

Ruby stretched her arms over her head as she said, "Took the words right out of my mouth, Sapphy."

"And mine," was Amethyst's muffled reply. She got up to pull the bear trap off her leg. "I did _not_ get off easy. Like, at all."

"Well, while we weren't able to find the Wailing Stone, we're all still alive, and that's all that matters," Steven said.

"But I found it," Pearl said. "I'm holding it in my hands right now as we speak."

"Yeah, I can see that," Steven said. "You know what this calls for?"

"No."

"A celebration song!" Steven took out his ukulele and began playing.

"Oh, that's the end of another mission,

La la la, something that rhymes with mission,

That's the end of another quest,

We made it through 'cause we're the best!"

The Gems all chuckled and applauded him as the group began walking back to the Warp Pad. "Steven, you're alright," Amethyst said as they got on. "Now let's go home so I can sleep off all this pain."

The Crystal Gems warped back home.


	7. My Friend, Lion

**Michael: I realize that some of my choices might be a bit controversial, but in this AU, Gems actually aren't able to fuse. If they could, Ruby and Sapphire would likely still be fused like in Canon.**

**Dragontitan: Thank you for the nice words. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little sad about the show ending, but everything needs to end someday.**

**Guest: I might take a couple of your ideas into consideration, and I'm glad you're enjoying my story so far.**

The Crystal Gems were currently on a mission in the desert. Steven was lagging behind the Gems, suffering in the scorching heat. "So hot..." He took a water bottle out of his backpack and poured it on himself before falling over face-down into the burning sand.

Pearl ran over to pick him up. "You know, you could have just stayed home while we went to retrieve the broken Desert Glass."

"But I didn't wanna miss out on anything cool," Steven breathed out.

"It's a broken piece of Gem tech that was supposed to help with building stuff outta sand," Amethyst replied. "What's so cool about that?"

"Everything! Gem stuff is always cool!"

Suddenly, the ground started shaking as the group was lifted into the sky by a giant pillar made of sand, which then collapsed into a large, soft pile on the desert ground.

"The Desert Glass is close by," Sapphire said. "The rest of you go and find it while I stay with Steven and keep him cool."

"Right." And Ruby, Amethyst and Pearl ran off to find the Desert Glass.

Sapphire pulled Steven close to her and ran an icy hand across his sweat-drenched forehead. "Does that feel better?"

"Yeah," Steven sighed, welcoming the sorely needed wave of coolness that washed over him. "Thanks, Sapphire."

Then a collosal, winding staircase rose from the sand as it lifted Steven at least 70 feet into the air. The sudden force caused Steven to tumble backwards off the edge before he grabbed onto it. He hung on for dear life, trying not to look down. The staircase rumbled as it began to collapse, and Steven was forced to let go. He fell about 20 feet before he was caught by something midair, and they landed safely on the ground below.

Steven looked at his savior: a large, pink lion with a lighter pink mane that was in a vague star shape. The lion gave him a lick on the cheek, causing him to giggle.

"Thanks for saving me," he said, standing to his feet. "You must be from around these parts, aren't you?"

The lion just sat and blinked at him, licking at his paw before brushing it over his face.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?" Steven began to speak slowly as he gestured to himself. "My name is Steven._ Ste-ven_." He then gestured to Sapphire, who had been silently watching the ordeal. "And this is _Sapphire._ Understand?"

The lion pushed Steven to the ground with his muzzle, prompting another giggle from him. "You know, for a lion, you really aren't that scary at all. Especially not with your pink fur." He pet the lion's soft mane. "You look like the cotton candy of the jungle."

The rest of the Gems ran over to greet Steven and Sapphire. Amethyst was holding a small, red pillow with a round, greenish-yellow stone embedded in its middle, which had a small crack in it.

"We found it!" Pearl said.

"You wouldn't _believe_ how hard it was to find and retrieve it!" Ruby vented to Sapphire. "It kept throwing us off by making all these random structures; huge, nearly impenetrable walls, stairs that led to nowhere, argh! It was a _mess_ out there."

Sapphire gave her lover a cooling hug. "I can imagine it was pretty stressful. How would you like me to give you a massage when we get home?"

Ruby sighed while returning the hug. "I'd love that."

"So anyway, I'm keeping this in my room," Amethyst announced, holding the pillow over her head. "Finders keepers."

The lion sneezed, drawing the Gems' attention. They summoned their weapons in case they had to fight the pink feline.

"Steven, get away from that thing!" Pearl said. "It could be dangerous!"

"No, it's okay! He's friendly!" Steven walked up to the lion and gave him a hug, the lion barely reacting. "See?"

"The lion saved Steven's life after he was thrown into the air by one of the Desert Glass's staircases," Sapphire told them.

"Can we keep him?" Steven asked.

"Steven, it's a wild animal," Pearl said. "You can't just keep it as a pet. We don't even know where it came from, let alone where it's been."

"I know where he's been. He's been in the desert! And he's probably spent most of his life all alone with nobody to look after him."

"It's a _lion,_ kid," Ruby said. "I'm sure he can fend himself just fine in the wild. Now let's just head home. I wanna have a massage to wind down after today's mission."

"Okay." Steven let go of the lion and waved him goodbye. "Goodbye, lion. Thanks again for saving me." And with that, Steven and the Gems walked back to the Warp Pad and warped home.

* * *

-Some time later-

Steven and Amethyst were arm wrestling on the hardwood floor of Steven's beach house while Pearl was sitting on the couch, reading a book. Amethyst won, prompting a frustrated groan from Steven. "C'mon, Amethyst. Best two out of three?"

"Sorry, dude." Amethyst sat up and smugly crossed her arms across her chest. "I won, and that's that."

Ruby emerged from her and Sapphire's room in the Temple, stretching her arms over her head and giving a contented sigh. "That massage was just what I needed. Thanks a lot, Sapphire."

"I'm glad I could be of service," Sapphire said as she gave Ruby a kiss on the cheek.

Suddenly, everyone heard a large beast scratching at the door of the beach house. Ruby, Amethyst and Pearl summoned their weapons, ready to fight whatever may be on the other side. The door opened to reveal the pink lion from earlier.

"It's you!" Steven exclaimed as he ran over to the big cat. "Did you come all the way here to see me again?"

As if in response to Steven's question, the lion pushed Steven to the floor with his muzzle and lay down on top of him before he could get up.

Steven gave a light chuckle as he patted the lion's side. "I'll take that as a yes." He got out from underneath the feline and stood to his feet. "You know, if you want, you can live here with us. Our casa es su casa."

"Absolutely not!" Pearl gently poked at the lion's nose repeatedly with the butt of her spear. "Go! Get! No wild animals in the house!"

"C'mon, Pearl, don't be mean to him. He's a good lion." Steven hugged the pink cat and stroked his mane. "Aren't you?"

"Steven, you know how I feel about-"

"C'mon, _pleeease?"_ Steven begged, mustering up his best puppy dog eyes. "I promise I'll feed him and bathe him and everything!"

"Well..." Pearl looked away from Steven, she and Steven both knowing full well that she could never say no to him when he pulled that expression. "I suppose we could let the lion stay, as long as you're willing to handle the responsibility of taking care of it."

"Yay! You hear that, lion?" Steven moved the sides of the lion's mouth to make it look like he was talking, while talking for him in a goofy voice. "Thanks, Pearl. I love you."

Pearl smiled as she rolled her eyes, mildly amused by Steven's little joke.

"You're gonna have to come up with a name for him," Ruby pointed out.

"How about 'Lionel Cotton Candy Snugglemane Universe?'" Steven suggested. "Or 'Lion' for short?"

"A-plus naming there, Steve-o," Amethyst remarked as Pearl and Ruby brought their hands to their faces.

Steven climbed onto his new pet's back. "Come on, boy. Let's go show you around." He patted Lion's side, and the lion got up and walked out the door.

They walked down the Temple's sloping pathway to the sandy beach below. "You're gonna like it here in Beach City," Steven told Lion as they made their way to town. "Everyone's really friendly, and there's lots of good food and places to hang out and have fun. Speaking of which, what do you like to do for fun? Lions are just big cats, right? So, I imagine you like to do all the same stuff that cats like to do." Steven began counting on his fingers. "Y'know, like sleeping, scratching stuff, sleeping, chasing small animals, sleeping... Cats really do sleep a lot, don't they? Anyway, let's go grab lunch."

Steven rode his new lion friend to the boardwalk. They walked up to Fish Stew Pizza, Beach City's local pizza parlor. "This is Fish Stew Pizza. Lots of people come here to eat and hang out," he explained. "I know cats love fish, and everyone loves pizza, so I _know_ you'll love this." He was about to open the door before he read the sign. "_No Pets Allowed._ Guess you're just gonna have to wait out here while I go in and order." He opened the door to go inside before Lion pulled on the back of his shirt with his teeth.

"Aww, I won't be long, boy." Steven pet Lion's head. "You just wait right here and I'll be back out before you know it." And with that, Steven went in, leaving the pink lion on his own once more. Then a seagull flew down near one of the trash cans, prompting him to chase after it as it took flight again.

* * *

"Hello, Fish Stew Pizza!" Steven walked up to the front counter.

"Hey, Steven," Kiki, the parlor's cashier and one of Kofi Pizza's teenage daughters, greeted. "What'll you have?"

"One large seafood pizza please. Extra toppings."

"A large? You must be pretty hungry today, huh?"

"It's not just for me, Kiki. I've got a new friend who really likes fish."

"That's cool. Could you tell me about them?"

"Well, he's a big pink lion who saved me from falling to my death while me and the Gems were all on a mission in the desert."

"What?!" The source of the shout was none other than Ronaldo Fryman, local conspiracy theorist and eldest son of the owner of Beach Citywalk Fries. He ran over to Steven and grabbed him by the shoulders. "No way! You have to tell me more about it! Does it have any magical powers? Is it any way connected to the alien Armada? Where is it now?"

"Um, not that I know of, I don't think so, and he's right outside."

"You're not _lion,_ are you?" Kiki's twin sister Jenny happened to have overheard the conversation and skated over when she got done serving some customers their drinks.

Steven laughed in response to Jenny's pun. "That's funny, Jenny. But it's true. Come on, I'll show you."

The Pizza twins and Ronaldo followed Steven outside the restaurant to see a large, pink lion harassing the seagulls.

Steven ran over to try and put an end to it. "Lionel Cotton Candy Snugglemane Universe!" The lion sat down on his haunches when he heard the boy's voice. Steven proceeded to scold him like a disobedient child. "What do you think you're doing? Bad lion! Bad, bad, naughty lion! I leave you alone for a few minutes and this is what I see? That's it. When we get home, you're in time out."

"So, this is your new friend you were talking about, huh?" Kiki said as she walked over to pet the feline. "He's pretty cute."

"Guess you really weren't _lion_ after all." Jenny said, prompting a stink-eye from her sister. "Sorry for using the same pun twice."

"A pink lion here in Beach City!" Ronaldo exclaimed as he took his phone out of his pocket to take pictures of Lion. "I've _gotta_ get this for my blog!"

"What blog?" Kiki asked.

"My conspiracy blog for all the weird stuff that goes on in Beach City: Keep! Beach! City! Weird!"

Jenny snickered. "_You're_ weird, Ronaldo."

Suddenly, a large, strange-looking bird with royal blue and white coloration dove down at the group of acquaintances before Lion roared at it, firing a shockwave from his mouth and breaking it into pieces which fell onto the sidewalk. It was another Rough Gem. Before Steven could make another move, Lion grabbed him by the shirt collar and ran off with him back to the Temple. The Pizza twins just stared after them in shock as Ronaldo took a picture of the Rough Gem's broken remains for his blog.

* * *

When Steven and Lion arrived at the Temple, they saw the Crystal Gems fighting an entire flock of the bird Gems, at least twenty of them, from what Steven could count. They seemed to be having some trouble.

"What's going on here?" Steven asked.

"All of these Rough Sodalites flew over here and we don't know where they came from!" Pearl exclaimed as she tried to use her spear to fight off a small group of four of them. "I don't know if we'll be able to fight them off!" She sliced one of the Sodalites in half.

A group of seven of them were attacking Amethyst, who was screaming and wildly flailing her whip around, trying to land a hit on one of them. "Aaaargh! Get 'em off me!"

Ruby then ran over to her and punched a Rough Sodalite in the back, breaking it into pieces, which caused the rest of them to attack her instead. She roared in rage as she became a ball of fire, scaring the Sodalites into scattering in all directions. "I'm already tired of fighting these damn things," she growled to herself.

"Don't worry! I can help!" Steven lifted his shirt to expose his gemstone and closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on summoning his shield. "Come on, shield. We need you."

"Steven, you should just go inside," Sapphire calmly told him as she froze a Rough Sodalite with one of her ice blasts. "We have the situation under control. We don't want you getting hurt."

Then, Lion ran over and batted one of the Sodalites out of the air with his paw, the bird-like Rough Gem slamming against the stone cliff and shattering into pieces upon impact.

"Lion?"

Lion tensed his muscles, his hackles bristling on his back. Suddenly, he threw his head back and unleashed a mighty **_ROAR!_**

Everyone ducked for cover as the resulting shockwave caused all of the Rough Sodalites to crumble into pieces and fall to the sand below. Lion then yawned and stretched like the cat he is, and plopped down on his belly for a nice nap on the beach, exhausted from helping the Gems in battle.

When they were sure the coast was clear, Steven and the Gems stood to their feet and dusted themselves off. "Lion, you did it!" Steven ran over to the pink feline and gave him a hug, rubbing his face against his mane.

The rest of the Crystal Gems walked over to pet their furry hero, who was purring contentedly like a happy housecat.

"Aw, who's a good boy?" Amethyst asked playfully while ruffling his mane as if he were a big dog.

Pearl put a somewhat hesitant hand to Lion's forehead. "I suppose you're not that bad to have around."

The group all turned their heads to see Greg pulling his van up to the Temple. "Is everything okay?" he asked as he got out and ran over to them. "I thought I heard an explosion!" He did a double take when he saw the giant pink lion that his son and the magical alien ladies who he lived with were cuddling. "Is that a _lion?!_"

"Hey, Dad!" Steven greeted. "This is my friend, Lion. Short for Lionel Cotton Candy Snugglemane Universe." Steven looked at his new pet and gestured to his father. "Lion, my dad." Lion got up and walked over to the nervous man to sniff at him.

"Uh... Is he friendly?" Greg asked.

"Of course he is!" Steven answered as he ran up and pet Lion's side. "He saved my life while I was on a desert mission with the Gems. They said he could stay as long as I take care of him."

"Are you guys seriously letting him keep a full-grown lion?" Greg asked the Gems as he hesitantly stroked the top of Lion's head.

"Well, we did decide to keep Amethyst," Ruby replied, prompting a laugh from everyone aside from the purple Gem in question, who just let out an annoyed "Har har," as she crossed her arms.


	8. Enter The Tiger

**Dragontitan: Steven's gonna be petting Lion a lot in this fanfic, so brace yourself. ;)**

**coronadomontes: Gracias.**

Steven was sitting up in his bedroom loft, playing _Bash Brothers Melee_ on his Dolphin. He watched the screen intently as he mashed the buttons on his controller, trying hard to beat his opponent.

He was very close to knocking his opponent off the screen when suddenly, the opposing figure used an energy beam attack to knock Steven's character at least 300 feet away from the platform they were fighting on, leaving him to plummet to his doom. The words **_Knock Out!_** flashed on the screen in bold red letters.

"Aw man!" Steven groaned. "I was so close that time too."

Just then, he heard the sound of the Warp Pad activating, and went downstairs to meet with the rest of the Crystal Gems, who had recently returned from a mission. "Hey, guys! How was your mission?"

"Pretty good," Amethyst replied. "Ruby punched a Rough Gem's head off." And she held up the head of a black, vaguely reptilian Rough Gem.

"Whoa!" Steven gasped in awe as he looked at the Rough Gem's disembodied head. "Really?!"

"Yep," Ruby answered proudly. "Just gave him a couple of these." And she summoned her gauntlet and threw a couple of punches at the air in front of her to demonstrate.

"Whoa... I wish I could've been there to see the fight! You guys should've let me come!"

"Steven, you haven't even fully figured out how to summon your weapon yet," Pearl gently chided him. "Until then, the four of us can handle the fighting."

"But I was the one who defeated the Rough Nephrite when I first summoned my shield! You all saw it!"

"Yes, but only because the Rough Nephrite went into a state of shock," Sapphire reminded him.

"Because I summoned my shield!"

Ruby sighed and put a hand on Steven's shoulder. "Listen, kid. We all know how much you like being involved in Gem stuff, but until you've figured out your powers, the fighting part of it just isn't for you."

"You're probably right," Steven admitted. "But I still wanna train and become super strong like you, Ruby!"

"Like me?"

"Yeah! You're so awesome and tough and cool! I wish I could be like that!"

Ruby gave him a flattered smile as she unsummoned her gauntlet and put her hands on her hips. "Well, if you want, we could go out and train right now."

Steven gasped as he put is hands to his cheeks. "Really?"

"Sure! Like my old mentor said, there's no better time to start building on your strength than when you're young."

"Alright! Let's train!"

* * *

Steven and Ruby were now standing on the beach in front of the Crystal Temple.

"Alright. Now since you're just a beginner, I'll start out easy on you," Ruby explained. "But don't think just because I'm going easy on you now that this'll be too easy later on. The point of training is to improve your skills and get stronger, and you can't do that if you stay at the same level all throughout. Now are you sure you're ready for this?"

Steven pumped a fist in the air. "Yeah! Enter the tiger!"

"Enter the tiger?"

"Yeah. That's Captain Tiger's catchphrase in Bash Brothers Melee. He's pretty strong too."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Let's just focus on training, okay?"

"Aye, coach! Where do I start?"

"Well, how about you run a few laps around the beach? That seems like a good place to start."

"You got it!" Steven promptly began running around in circles on the beach. Ruby watched him intently.

"C'mon, you can do better than that. Let's see you put some muscle into it!"

"But I'm already doing as best as I can."

"Well then you'll have to do better than your best! C'mon, faster! Harder! You don't get results if you don't push yourself!"

Steven started running harder than he had previously. "How's this?"

"That's it! Don't wimp out!"

Steven panted hard as he became short of breath. His muscles began to ache as he kicked his legs as hard as he could. "I'll... try hard... not to. Enter... the tiger." Then he fell over onto his hands and knees as he lost his stamina. With his brow covered in sweat, Steven breathed deeply through his mouth, trying to get as much air into his lungs as he could.

"What happened?" Ruby asked as she ran over to him. "You were doing great just a few seconds ago!"

"I'm sorry. My lungs just feel like they're on fire."

"Listen, kiddo." Ruby got down on one knee. "You can't let a little pain get you down. You need to work through it if you ever want to become stronger. Remember, no pain, no gain."

"Got it..." Steven struggled to lift himself off the ground before his sore limbs gave out underneath him and he fell to his stomach. Lion, who had previously been lying in the shade of the Temple, walked over to the boy and sniffed at his face before licking his cheek. "Ugh, Lion." Steven feebly pushed Lion's nose away with his hand.

The door to the beach house opened as Sapphire came out onto the porch, with Amethyst and Pearl peeking out. "We're just checking to see how training is going," Sapphire said.

"Why's Steven on the ground?" Amethyst asked.

"Everything's fine," Ruby assured them. "Steven's just been doing some running."

"My muscles hurt pretty bad," Steven said. "But that's okay, because I'm getting stronger."

"Well, you should definitely rest if you're in that much pain, Steven," Pearl told him. "You don't want to strain yourself."

"Pearl is right," Sapphire said. "You can continue training tomorrow."

Steven tried to push himself to his feet before he fell back down. "Could someone carry me? I'm too sore to move."

Ruby picked him up and carried him back inside.

* * *

-The next morning-

Steven was fast asleep in his bed when suddenly, he was woken up by Ruby shouting into a megaphone. "Get up, Steven! We've got training to do!"

"Ruby?" Steven sat up with a stretch and a yawn. "What time is it?"

"6:00 AM," Ruby answered. "Now get dressed and get your butt outside!"

Steven got out of bed. "Can I at least have breakfast first?"

"You can eat later! Now let's move! Go! Go! Go! Go!"

"Okay!" Steven scrambled to get dressed as Ruby continued to shout at him.

"C'mon! Faster! We don't have all day!"

Steven hastily put his sandals on before he tumbled down the stairs. "I'm okay, I'm good." Then he stood to his feet and ran out the door.

* * *

Steven and Ruby were now standing by some large rocks near the Temple.

"Alright! Now, today, we're gonna be lifting some rocks. We'll start you off with this one right here," Ruby patted on a rock that was roughly the same size as Steven. "then we'll work your way up to that one over there." She pointed to a large boulder that was about as tall as Greg's van, and twice as wide.

"That one looks pretty big," Steven pointed out.

"Which is why you'll be starting out by lifting the smaller ones first," Ruby told him. "C'mon, you can do it! Enter the tiger, right?"

"Yeah." Steven went over to lift up the rock, which he struggled with.

"Come on, put your back into it!"

"I've... rrgh... got this." Steven lifted the heavy rock over his head. His limbs quivered, threatening to collapse underneath the rock's weight. He was forced to drop the rock on the sand when his arms gave out.

"Good job, kid. You held that rock in the air for a good seven seconds. Now let's see you lift that one." Ruby pointed to a rock that was slightly bigger than the first one, about the size of Amethyst.

"Can we take a break?" Steven asked. "My arms feel like jelly."

"A _break?!_ But we're just getting started! You can't quit on me now! If you quit on your mentor, you quit on _yourself!_ You don't want that, do you?"

"No."

"Then get over there and pick up that rock!"

"Okay." Steven rolled his shoulders and clenched his hands into fists. "I can do this." He walked over to the rock and spit on his hands before rubbing them together, and crouched down to lift it off the ground. His face reddened as he grunted with effort. This rock was much heavier than the first one, though that might be due to how weak his arms felt after holding that one over his head for so long.

Just then, Sapphire and Pearl went outside to check on them.

"Steven!" Pearl cried as she ran over to him. "What do you think you're doing? You're going to hurt yourself trying to lift that boulder!"

"It's fine, Pearl," Ruby assured her. "Steven's been doing some weight lifting."

"Yeah," Steven said as he struggled to lift the large rock. "No pain, no gain."

"Steven, stop it." Pearl said as she gently pushed Steven away from the rock. "I know you want to get stronger, but overexerting yourself isn't the way to do it. Now, how about you come inside and have some breakfast?"

"Okay. I am pretty hungry anyway."

Pearl led Steven back into the beach house, and once Ruby was sure they were out of earshot, she asked Sapphire, "Do you really think I'm making him overexert himself, Sapphire?"

"A little bit, yes," Sapphire said.

"I mean, as Corundums, you and I are pretty durable Gems, but Steven's half Diamond, so he should be way tougher than any of us, right?"

"But he's still half human." Sapphire grabbed Ruby's hands. "While he is stronger than a normal human, he still has many of the same weaknesses as one. There's never been anyone like Steven before. We don't know what he could be capable of in the future."

"Still, it wouldn't hurt to help him unlock his potential. I'll just keep training him and see what happens."

"I'm afraid it might end in one of you getting hurt." And with that, Sapphire went back inside the house, leaving Ruby alone to think about what her partner just said. She hadn't wanted to get Steven hurt, but Ruby didn't really care if she herself was hurt. After all, she would take it like the soldier she was born to be. But if Steven were ever to get hurt, especially by her hands...

The red Gem was taken out of her thoughts when Steven came back outside and ran over to her. "Hey, Ruby! I'm ready to continue training."

"Great, kid. These rocks aren't gonna lift themselves."

Day after day, Steven kept training with Ruby. He'd spent a lot of time running, lifting rocks, running while carrying rocks, climbing (occasionally while also carrying rocks), even sparring with Ruby in an attempt to get him to summon his shield or activate some other Gem power he had yet to hone. And after every training session, Steven would end up sore and exhausted, and one of the Gems had to carry him inside to rest.

* * *

Steven lay in his bed, fast asleep.

"Steven!" Ruby's voice boomed over the megaphone. "Come on and get dressed! We've got another day of training ahead of us!"

"Ugh..." Steven sat up on the edge of his bed. "Ruby, I know you wanna help me get stronger, and I know I wanted to get super strong in the first place, but do we really have to train _today?_ I've worked myself to the bone on the beach for six days already."

Ruby turned off the megaphone and set it down on the floor. "We're not training on the beach. The Solar Spire has a great arena for us to practice sparring in. We're gonna go train there."

Steven groaned quietly. "Alright. I'll get dressed and meet you on the Warp Pad."

* * *

The Crystal Gems warped to a spacious arena that was suspended in the air. There were six tall marble pillars standing at the shorter sides of the arena, three on each side, and some bleachers sat at the left side of the Warp Pad. Pearl, Amethyst, and Sapphire went over to the bleachers and sat down.

"You ready, kid?" Ruby asked Steven.

"I guess," Steven tiredly replied. "Enter the tiger."

"Okay." Ruby walked over to the far side of the arena, across from the Warp Pad. "Let's see what you got."

"Go, Steven!" Amethyst cheered from the bleachers.

"Be careful!" Pearl called out.

Steven got off the Warp Pad and ran over to Ruby with his fist raised to punch her. She blocked the attack by grabbing his fist with her right hand. "Is that really the best you got, kid?" Ruby pushed Steven back as she let go of his fist. "You're acting like you don't even wanna lay a hit on me!"

"That's because I don't."

"Well you'll have to hit back if someone hits you. That's how real fights work!" And Ruby summoned her gauntlet to throw a punch at Steven, which he successfully dodged. "Hey, look at that! I guess some of that training payed off, didn't it?"

"I learned from the best."

"I'm flattered. Let's see if you can dodge _this._"

Ruby threw a roundhouse kick near Steven's abdomen, which he blocked by grabbing her ankle, and then threw her over his shoulder.

The rest of the Gems gasped.

Ruby chuckled. "I've taught you well, kiddo, now let's see if you're ready for the _real_ deal!" She stood up and reared her arm back, pointing her gauntlet at Steven. The gauntlet glowed, but instead of disappearing, its form swelled to the size of her torso.

Steven backed up a few feet away from Ruby.

As soon as Ruby threw her fist forward, her gauntlet flew straight off her hand toward where Steven was standing.

Steven ducked out of the way just in time, and Ruby's gauntlet flew into one of the pillars and exploded into a cloud of red light upon impact, leaving a large crack in the pillar. Steven looked behind him to see what happened, and gasped when the pillar toppled over, threatening to crush him.

"Steven, look out!" Ruby ran over and pushed Steven out of the way before the pillar fell to the ground of the arena, leaving behind a sizeable cloud of dust and debris. When it settled, Steven stood to his feet, dusting himself off and coughing into his fist.

Pearl ran over to him and smothered him in a hysterical hug, crying her eyes out. "Oh, Steven, thank goodness you're alright! I almost thought I'd lost you!"

"Pearl, it's okay. I'm fine," Steven assured her while giving her a comforting pat on the back.

The rest of the Crystal Gems went over to the collapsed pillar to see that Ruby was trapped underneath it, and they all worked together to lift it off of her. There was a collective gasp as everyone saw that Ruby's left foot had been broken off at the shin, a cyan liquid slowly oozing out of the holes.

* * *

Ruby sat quietly on the arena's bleachers as Sapphire reattached her foot, the blue Gem's fingers lightly tracing the crease where the body part broke off. Steven sat beside her as he held her hand.

"It's very fortunate that it was only your foot that broke off," Sapphire told her.

"I know. I guess I should apologize for being so brash." Ruby turned to Steven. "To you, Steven. I shouldn't have been so hard on you in the first place."

"It's okay," Steven assured her. "I had fun training with you. Even if I got a little hurt in the process."

"No, it's really not. I should've known you couldn't keep up with the Ruby way of training." Ruby looked down at her left leg. "I mean, I'm tough, but I'm not invincible. I couldn't imagine what could've happened to you if I hadn't pushed you out of the way of that pillar in time."

"You know, if you want, maybe we could try sparring some safer, less physical way until your leg is all healed."

"What way is that?"

* * *

Steven and Ruby sat up in Steven's bedroom loft, playing _Bash Brothers Melee_ on his Dolphin. They both mashed the buttons on their respective controllers as they tried to knock one another off the arena. Steven, who was playing as Captain Tiger, launched a powered kick at Ruby's character and sent them flying off the screen. The words **_Player One Wins!_** flashed on the screen in bold red letters.

Ruby groaned in irritation at losing. "How are you so good at this game?"

"What can I say?" Steven replied. "I know my craft. Want a rematch?"

Ruby gave a relenting sigh. "Why not?"


	9. Welcome To Funland!

**Dragontitan: I'm glad you liked it. I'm still thinking about how things will go between Steven and Jasper. She'll probably be resentful towards Steven for "killing" her Diamond since he has her gem and she died giving birth to him, though Jasper doesn't really understand how human childbirth works. The Rose Quartz trio will probably be all buddy-buddy with him and the other Crystal Gems. Steven probably won't have different powers from canon. The update schedule is random but I try to upload a new chapter at least twice a month.**

Steven lay on the couch, absent-mindedly strumming his ukulele. "So, no mission today, huh?"

"Nope," Amethyst replied as she took some bread, mustard, cheese, and grape jelly out of the fridge. "There's nothing Gem-related going on, so we're all just gonna bum around and do nothin' all day." She started making a sandwich. "Anyone else want an MC and J?"

"No thanks," Steven replied.

"I'll pass on that, thank you very much," Pearl replied, not looking up from the book she was reading. Pearl didn't particularly like eating human foods, especially not the kind that Amethyst had a penchant for.

Amethyst shrugged. "You're missing out." She then proceeded to take a big bite of the sandwich she made.

"So, what are Ruby and Sapphire up to?" Steven asked.

"Probably cuddling in their room like they normally do when there's no mission," Amethyst replied as she took another bite. "You know how those two are."

"Well, maybe we could all go out and do something fun," Steven suggested. "How about we spend the day at Funland?"

"The amusement park that held Beach City's annual fireworks festival?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah. I kinda wanted to make up for us missing out on that after I got lost in the Temple and that giant lava hand in the Burning Room tried to kill me." Steven made a grim expression at the memory, which then disappeared as quickly as it came. "We could ride there on Lion."

Pearl hummed in thought. "We don't usually partake in human social activaties, but I suppose it would do us some good to get out of the house for awhile."

Amethyst proceeded to stuff the rest of her sandwich in her mouth. "As long as there's plenty of good food, I'm up for anything."

"Great. I'll just get Ruby and Sapphire and we'll be all set." Steven got up from the couch and knocked on the Temple Door. "Ruby! Sapphire! Can you hear me?"

The Door opened to reveal Ruby and Sapphire standing in the entranceway. "Yes, Steven, we could hear you," Sapphire said.

"Is there something you need from us, kid?" Ruby asked.

"We're going to Funland!" Steven happily announced.

"Okay," Ruby replied. "Any particular reason why?"

Steven just shrugged. "I just thought we could go out and do something fun on our day off. Come on! We'll ride over there on Lion!" And he ran over to a dozing Lion and climbed on his back.

"I don't think all five of us will fit," Ruby pointed out.

"Of course we will." Steven moved up to sit on Lion's shoulders. "I'll just sit way up in the front while you guys all squeeze behind me."

"I guess that could work." Ruby looked at Sapphire, who gave a curt nod.

The Gems, Pearl, Amethyst, Sapphire, and Ruby, in that order, all proceeded to climb on Lion's back behind Steven.

"Hey, Lion," Steven called to his pet as he patted him on the head. "You wanna take us to Funland?"

In response, Lion stood up and ran out the door to the beach. Steven gently pulled at his mane like reins to guide him to their destination.

* * *

It took them about 10 minutes to get to Beach City Funland. The small amusement park was brimming with people of various ages. The air was filled with the excited screams of children and the salty smell of buttered popcorn.

"Here we are!" Steven happily announced as he hopped off of their furry pink mount. "Welcome to Funland!"

Pearl looked around as she and the rest of the Gems climbed down. "There certainly are a lot of interesting ways to waste your free time."

Steven ran past the park entrance. "Come on! I'm sure Funland has something that each of you guys will like!"

The Gems followed behind Steven as he led the way to a ring toss game. There were glass bottles grouped together behind the stand. Various stuffed animals were hung up on the wall behind them.

"This is Ring Toss," Steven explained. "All you have to do is toss the rings onto the bottles to win a prize."

"That sounds easy enough," Pearl said.

Steven rang the bell on the counter to alert the young man running the game. "Huh?" The man looked up from his magazine and over to Steven and the Gems. "Oh, hey. I'm guessing you wanna play a few rounds?"

"Yes please," Steven replied.

"Alright. It's a dollar for five tosses."

Steven took a dollar bill out of his pocket and set it on the counter. "Pearl, do you wanna have a turn after me? I think you'll really like this game."

"I suppose it's worth a try."

The man put five rings down on the counter. "Let's see what you got, kiddo."

Steven took the rings and tossed them one-by-one at the bottles. Unfortunately, none of them landed where he wanted them to. Steven hummed in disappointment.

"Better luck next time," the man said as he went back to his magazine.

Steven put another dollar bill on the counter and rang the bell to get his attention.

The man sighed as he was forced to put down his magazine. "Alright, alright." He put five more rings on the counter. "You can play another round."

Steven took the rings and handed them to Pearl. "Here you go, Pearl. You don't have to worry about winning. Just do your best!"

"Alright. Here it goes." Pearl flung each of the rings at the bottles like shuriken. One of the rings had hit one of the bottles with enough force to break off the mouth, and the rest were stuck in the wall behind them, one of them having cut down one of the stuffed animal prizes. Everyone just stared in surprise.

Pearl blushed as she started sheepishly fiddling with her tie. "Oh, um, sorry. I guess I wasn't aware of my strength."

The man looked at the stuffed animal on the ground and picked it up to hand it over to Pearl. It was a white teddy bear with a bright red nose. "So, I guess you won this. Technically, you're supposed to get all five of the rings on the bottles, but, whatever." He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "Don't tell my boss."

Pearl gave the teddy bear to Steven. "Here, Steven, you can have it. I don't know what I would do with it."

"Thanks, Pearl." Steven said as he clutched the bear to his chest. "Now, let's go find something else to do."

"You guys go ahead," Amethyst replied as she began walking in the other direction. "I'mma go see where the snacks are."

"Wait!" Steven grabbed Amethyst by the shoulder and handed her a 20 dollar bill. "Here's 20 bucks, on me."

"Thanks, dude." Amethyst ran off with the money. "I'm not letting this go to waste."

* * *

Steven and the rest of the Gems walked around the park in search of another activity. Steven cast glances over each of his shoulders, scanning what the best option would be. He, Ruby and Sapphire weren't tall enough to ride most of the rides, and he wouldn't dare ride the Teacups again after the incident a few months back. Then he saw two familiar teenagers standing near a tall, red metal structure with a bell at the top.

"Hey, Lars! Sadie!" Steven ran over to them with the Gems in tow.

"Hey, Steven!" Sadie greeted. "Are you here with the Gems?"

"Yeah. There's no Crystal Gem mission today, so we thought we'd just enjoy the day off."

"Cool. Lars and I are hanging out while the Big Donut is closed for remodeling."

"I figured we'd take a stop at the ol' strength tester so I could show off my awesome muscles." Lars flexed his skinny biceps as Sadie rolled her eyes.

"Did one of you guys wanna take a turn after Lars?" Sadie asked.

"Ruby might wanna have a turn," Steven said. "She's great at things that involve strength!"

Ruby smirked with pride as she crossed her arms. "I am, aren't I?"

"Well, let's see if you can beat _this!_" Lars struggled to lift the heavy mallet over his head before he slammed it down on the pad of the strength tester. The small metal bullet climbed up to the 50 mark, which lit up as the machine taunted "Sissy boy!" The Filipino blushed in embarrassment as he dropped the mallet on the ground.

"You really think I can't beat that?" Ruby scoffed as she pulled at the tails of her headband. "I could beat 10 _times_ that in my sleep! I don't even need to use a hammer!" She summoned her gauntlet and marched over to the structure.

"Ruby, wait!" Ruby had her gauntlet raised over her head before Sapphire ran over to her. The blue Gem kissed her red lover on the cheek. "Do your best."

Ruby blushed as she smiled at her. "Anything for you, Sapphire." Ruby raised her gauntlet high above her head and slammed it down on the pad, the bullet shooting upwards with enough force to end up getting lodged in the bell's exterior as a sharp 'ding' rung throughout the park.

Ruby put her hands on her hips as she beamed with pride. Everyone else stared at the strength tester in various degrees of surprise. Lars especially stood dumbstruck as he sputtered incoherently before he pointed at Ruby and cried, "You were just trying to show off!"

"Hey, you wanted me to try and beat you," Ruby said smugly as she wrapped an arm around Sapphire. "It's not my fault I'm so much stronger than an average human."

Lars walked away from the group. "Ugh, whatever. I'm gonna go get a soda."

"I wonder what's gotten him so upset," Pearl said. "He knows he's not stronger than a Gem, right?"

Sadie smiled apologetically. "Lars is just a bit of a jerk sometimes." And with that, the blonde ran off after her co-worker. "Come on, Lars, it's not a big deal!"

"Okay, bye!" Steven waved at her. "We're gonna go find something else to do!" They then took off before bumping into Amethyst, (with Steven literally bumping into her) who was carrying an assortment of carnival foods in her arms.

"Hey, watch it! You're gonna make me drop my snacks."

"Sorry, Amethyst. We were just gonna look for another activity to do."

"A'ight, cool." Amethyst started walking along side the rest of the group. "Did I miss anything?"

"Well, Ruby just beat Lars' score on the strength tester," Steven said.

"Cool. You want some popcorn?"

"Sure." Steven ate some popcorn from the bucket Amethyst was holding. "So, what do you guys feel like doing?"

"I don't really have a particular preference," Pearl said.

"Me neither," Ruby said before turning to Sapphire. "What about you, Sapphire? What do you feel like doing?"

"Nothing in particular," Sapphire said.

"I'm up for whatever," Amethyst said as she munched on her cotton candy.

"How about we go to the arcade?" Steven suggested. "There are lots of cool games to play there."

* * *

Steven and the Gems went into the arcade where, Mr. Smiley, the owner of all of Beach City Funland, including the arcade, was standing at the prize counter.

"Steven! Crystal ladies! What brings you to Funland?"

"It's 'Crystal _Gems_', actually," Pearl corrected.

"We're here on our day off," Steven said.

"Well, ain't that just dandy! I _never_ get the day off!" Mr. Smiley's smile never waned while he was on the job, not even when he voiced his misfortunes. "Have fun!"

Steven took some quarters out of his pocket and gave one to each of the Gems.

"Okay, so I only have enough change for each of us to play one game," he explained. "so we should pick one that we'll really enjoy, got it?"

"Got it," the Gems all said in unison.

"Okay, now let's have fun!"

Each of the Gems went over to a game that looked particularly interesting to them; Pearl decided to try her hand at a driving game called "Road Killer", Ruby, feeling it couldn't hurt to brush up her button-mashing skills after Steven beat her countless times in Bash Brothers Melee, decided to play a fighting game called "Teens of Rage", and Amethyst decided to play the classic arcade staple known as Skee-Ball. And by play, that meant she sat right on top of the outermost ring and threw all but one of the balls straight into the middle hole as a long strip of tickets slid out of the ticket dispenser.

"Amethyst, what are you doing?!" Steven cried as he ran over to her.

"You were right, Steven! The arcade _is_ fun! This game is kinda short though."

"You're supposed to throw the balls up the lane like in bowling." Steven jumped onto the lane and walked up to take the ball from Amethyst, then jumped down to stand across from her at the front of the lane. "Like this." And he bowled the ball up the lane to demonstrate, getting it into the bottom hole.

"Ohh... I kinda prefer my way."

Steven sighed as he went to see how the rest of the Gems were doing. He spotted Sapphire standing there looking at the quarter in her hand.

"Hey, Sapphire. How come you're not playing anything?"

"I don't know which game to play. There are a lot of options... a lot of possibilities..."

"Let's see..." Steven scanned the arcade for something that Sapphire might like. He spotted a brightly-colored game that had four controllers shaped like pieces of meat.

"How about this one?" Steven led Sapphire by the hand over to the game. "Meat Beat Mania. You just move the meat..." Steven took Sapphire's quarter and put it in the coin slot. "to the beat!" Steven handed Sapphire the two ham-shaped controllers. The screen came to life as a cartoon pig moved its arms side-to-side. Sapphire hummed as she mimicked the movements on the screen with perfect accuracy.

"Wow, Sapphire, you're really good at this game! Keep at it." Steven ran off to see how Pearl was doing.

The tall Gem in question walked to the entrance/exit of the arcade, muttering something under her breath about how video games are a waste of time.

"What's the matter, Pearl?"

"Ugh, the game I was playing kept calling me horrible, even though I haven't crashed into _anything!_"

"What was the game called?"

"I think it was called 'Road Killer' or something like that."

"You're supposed to crash into _everything_ in that game!"

"Crash into _everything?! That's_ what's horrible! I can't believe someone would actually _play_ that!"

Ruby was heard roaring in anger.

"Hold that thought!" Steven ran over to where she was and saw that she was aggressively mashing the buttons on the "Teens of Rage" game.

"How's it going, Ruby?"

"I'm trying to beat this guy in the game, but he's not letting up!"

"Who are you playing against?"

"I dunno! Some guy in a jacket! Does it matter?!"

"Kind of. Some of the guys are stronger than the others."

Then, the letters **K.O.!** flashed on the screen as Ruby's player character lay on the ground defeated, her opponent laughing triumphantly. Ruby started trembling before she burst into flames. "RAAAAGH! I HAD IT WITH THIS SLAG-DAMNED GAME!"

And with that, she summoned her gauntlet, and punched a large hole in the screen, inadvertently spreading her flames to the machine, which then spread to the other machines surrounding that one. Soon enough, the entire arcade was ablaze. All of the patrons of the arcade ran out in panic as Mr. Smiley called the fire department.

When Ruby's anger died down, she saw what was happening around her, and immediately recognized it as a result of her own irrational actions. "Oh no..."

"Come on! We gotta get the rest of the Gems!" Steven grabbed Ruby by the wrist and ran around the burning arcade, desperately looking around for any sign of the Gems. "Pearl! Amethyst! Sapphire! We gotta leave!"

"Steven!" Pearl and Amethyst ran over to Steven and Ruby. "Don't worry! We're right here!"

"Wait! Where's Sapphire?!" Ruby cried, her eyes darting every which way. "Sapphire! If you can hear me, I love you!"

"Come on! I think I know where she is!" Steven led the Gems over to Meat Beat Mania which, surely enough, Sapphire was still playing in the midst of the fire. She's reached level 22, even.

"Sapphire!" Steven ran up to her. "Come on, we have to leave right now!"

Sapphire didn't pay him any attention. She was only focused on the rhythm of the dancing pig on the screen.

"Sapphire, please!" Ruby unplugged the game, bringing Sapphire back to reality. Ruby stepped in front of Sapphire to face her, putting one hand on her shoulder and using the other to caress her cheek. "I love you too much to lose you."

"Ruby..." Sapphire took a look around. "Why is everything on fire?"

Ruby put a nervous hand behind her head. "I kinda let my temper get out of control."

"So it was _you_ who started this crazy fire?!" Mr. Smiley interrogated.

"Yeah," Steven said. "Sorry."

"Sorry _nothin'!_ Y'all are banned from Funland Arcade for the rest of the year! Now get out of here before I ban you for the rest of _eternity!_"

* * *

The Crystal Gems rode back home on Lion.

"Sorry for getting you banned, kiddo," Ruby said.

"It's okay," Steven said. "Aside from that, today was a pretty good day. We all still got to spend time together, and that's what really matters."

"So, what are you gonna do now that you can't play games for the rest of the year?" Amethyst asked.

"I can still play video games at home." Steven yawned. "Speaking of which, I'm ready to go home and take a nap."

"Me too. There might not have been a mission today, but I'm pooped."

"Right. Let's agree to spend the rest of this day off _resting,_" Pearl said.

"Sounds good to me," Amethyst said.

"Me too," Ruby said.

"Me three," Steven said.

Sapphire hummed in agreement.

They rode up the Temple's pathway, onto the porch of Steven's beach house, and through the doorway, and Lion stretched and yawned before promptly lying down with his backside still halfway outside the door. The Gems followed suit as they all lay their heads on Lion's back as if he were a great pink pillow. Steven sighed contentedly as he snuggled the teddy bear Pearl technically won for him on their day out.


	10. Ten Thousand Birthdays

**Guest: That's really good to know.**

**Dragontitan: We will be seeing Bismuth and Spinel eventually. Just not this season.**

The Crystal Gems were having a game night, and Steven, Pearl, Ruby, and Amethyst were playing Sugarland, one of Steven's favorite board games.

"Oh, what luck! I get to cross the Graham Cracker Bridge!" Pearl moved her piece from one side of the Graham Cracker Bridge to the other, and picked up the dice to hand to Ruby, who was sitting next to her. "Your turn, Ruby."

Ruby took the dice from Pearl. "Okay! C'mon, let's get something good!" She rolled and moved her piece to a square that told her to pick up a card, and she read the card she picked up out loud. "You get sick from eating too many sweets. Move back to start." Ruby grumbled as she moved her piece back to the starting point. Sapphire, who offered to just sit and watch, put a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"My turn." Amethyst took the dice and rolled an eight, and moved her piece eight spaces. "Bam."

"Okay, now it's my turn." Steven took the dice and rolled a five, which was just the right amount of spaces he needed to move to get to the finish. "Yay! I win again!"

"Good job, kiddo," Ruby congratulated. "Third time in a row."

"Shall we play again?" Pearl asked.

"Nah, I kinda wanna play something else now." Steven put everything back in the box and went upstairs to put it with the other board games. That's when a large, brown leather book caught his eye. "Hm?" Steven took it off the shelf to take a look inside of it. The yellowed pages were full of grainy, black and white photographs of the Gems and his late mother, Rose Diamond, with some other people who looked like they were from the 19th century. "Hey, guys! Look what I found!" Steven came down the stairs with the book in his hands.

"Our old photo album!" Pearl ran over to take it from him. "I was wondering where it was!" Pearl sighed as she hugged it to her chest. "So many memories of years gone by..."

"I saw some pictures of you guys with some people who were dressed like they were from the olden days."

"Those people _were_ from the olden days," Pearl replied. "Let me show you some more pictures." She put the album down on the coffee table and opened it up. She pointed at a couple of photos. "Here we are at the battle of Delmarva in 1830, and here's your mother shaking hands with Beach City's founder." She pointed to another photo on the next page. "Oh! And here's one of-"

"Wait, so if you guys were alive for that stuff, then... how old _are_ you? Not to be rude or anything, I'm just curious."

"We're actually more than 10 thousand years old," Pearl said. "Much older than any human that's ever lived, that's for sure!"

"I'm actually in the 9,000's range, but that's pretty close to 10,000," Amethyst said.

"Cool! So does that mean you guys are immortal?"

"No," Sapphire said. "Gems still age, just at a much slower rate than humans do."

"How much slower?"

"About," Amethyst made a "pshh" sound as she waved a nonchalant hand in the air. "five hundred years, give or take."

"Wow! So that means you have to wait five hundred whole years for your next birthday? I don't think I could wait that long for a birthday party."

"Birthday party?" Ruby questioned, arching an eyebrow. "Kid, Gems don't really _celebrate_ birthdays."

Steven did an exaggerated gasp as if he had just heard the most shocking news in his young life. "Why not?!"

"It just isn't the Gem way," Sapphire answered.

"Well, I can't let this travesty go unresolved!" Steven stood to his feet and pointed at the Crystal Gems. "Mark my words, I'm gonna throw you guys the biggest, awesomest party to make up for all the ten thousand birthdays you've wasted!"

"Cool," Amethyst said.

"Tomorrow, that is," Steven added. "It's kinda late right now. But mark my words, I will throw you guys the best party you've ever seen!" And with that, he ran up the stairs to his loft.

* * *

The next day, Steven and Greg were at work setting up decorations for the Gems' birthday party.

"You sure the Gems'll like this, Steven?" Greg asked as he hung the "Happy Birthday" banner over the beach house's door.

"Sure they will!" Steven said as he tied up some balloons. "This party will have everything! Cake, ice cream, balloons, games, the whole shebang!" Steven watched as Lion batted some of the balloons with his paws. "See? Even Lion seems to like it so far!"

"If you say so, but the Gems might not be too big on the whole 'party' deal."

"What do you mean? Everyone loves parties!" Steven finished putting the candles on the sheet cake Greg bought from the bakery. He used the candles that looked like numbers because 10,000 or more candles would be way too many to put on a cake. "There! All done!"

Steven stood back to admire his and his father's work. "Everything looks great! Now all we have to do is wait for everyone to get here so we can get this party started."

Just then, he and Greg heard the ping of the Warp Pad from inside the beach house. The half-Gem boy ran inside to greet the Crystal Gems. "Hey, guys! The party's all set up outside! Come on!" He ran back out onto the beach where the party was set up.

The Gems followed him to see a rectangular folding table with a sheet cake on it, and some white plastic chairs scattered around said table with some balloons of various bright colors scattered on the sand.

"Doesn't look like much of a party," Amethyst observed.

"That's because the guests aren't here yet," Steven replied.

"Guests?" Pearl asked.

"You invited guests?" Ruby asked.

"Just a few people we know," Steven said. And he started counting off his fingers. "Lars, Sadie, the Fryman brothers, Connie, Onion..."

Steven was interrupted when he heard Connie call out to him. "Hey, Steven! I'm here!" She was running over to the Temple holding some books in her arms.

"Connie!" Steven ran over to her and gave her a hug. "I'm so glad you could make it. Are those books presents for the Gems?"

"Yeah. I didn't know what they'd like, so I just went with books."

"Amethyst and Ruby aren't really readers, but I know Pearl likes books. Why don't you put them on the table over there?"

Connie went over to put her present on the table when Lion walked over and sniffed at her, startling her. "Um, Steven?"

"It's okay, he's friendly!"

Just then, a small, pale-skinned boy with a tuft of blond hair on the top of his head came over to the group. It was Onion.

"Onion! You made it!" Steven looked around to see that none of the other guests have arrived. "Hm. Everyone else should be here by now."

"Um, Steven," Pearl spoke up. "you are aware that most of the people you invited have jobs to attend to, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot about that part." Steven's smile deflated a bit, but quickly came back. "But that's okay! We can still have a great party without a lot of guests!" Steven held up a clipboard that held a paper that read "STEVEN'S LIST OF SUPER-AWESOME PARTY ACTIVITIES!" at the top as well as various party activities listed underneath that. "I've written down a list of activities we can do. We don't necessarily have to do them in order, it's just the order I wrote them in. But it's cool if you want to."

"Steven, this party looks nice, and we appreciate you doing this for us," Pearl said. "but we're not exactly _sure_ about this whole 'birthday party' business. This sort of thing is more of a human ritual."

"But you guys always talk about how hard you and Mom fought for humanity," Steven said. "Come on, just give it a chance. I promise you'll love it."

"Well..."

"We should go along with it to make Steven happy," Sapphire told the rest of the Gems.

"Alright," Pearl said. "We'll do it for you, Steven."

"Great! Wait right there!" Steven ran off to grab a plastic crown and a red cape off of one of the chairs. He ran back over to them with the costume in his arms. "Okay! Which one of you wants to be the birthday queen?"

"Birthday queen?" Amethyst repeated in confusion.

"Yeah. My dad crowns me birthday king every year on my birthday. You remember."

"Oh, yeah! That's right! I always wanted to try that stuff on myself."

"Then _you_ can be the birthday queen, Amethyst." Steven put the crown on her head and draped the cape over her shoulders.

Amethyst spread her arms out to look at herself. "Sweet."

"Okay, let's party it up!"

* * *

Amethyst was holding a baseball bat as Steven put a blindfold on her. Greg stood across from them holding a long stick with a colorful, horse-shaped piñata tied to the other end on a string. "Okay, Amethyst," Steven said. "Just try to break the piñata open with the bat, and you'll get plenty of candy."

"You got it!" Amethyst stepped forward and took a swing at the piñata, barely avoiding hitting a nervous Greg in the process.

"Uh, Amethyst? Would you mind not swinging so close to my face?"

"I'm trying to hit the piñata! It's kinda hard to see what I'm doing with this blindfold in the way!" Amethyst threw off her blindfold before taking a big swing at the piñata and smashing it to bits, the many pieces of candy inside falling out onto the ground. "Jackpot!" She got down on her knees and started stuffing them in her mouth.

"Amethyst, don't eat so many of them at once!" Pearl chided her. "You're going to make yourself sick!"

In response, Amethyst stood to her feet, and spat a few candies out onto her hand to give them to her. "Here you go. It's your party too, after all."

Pearl recoiled in disgust. "No, thank you!"

"Aw, c'mon." Amethyst shoved the spit-covered candies in Pearl's face while sporting a sly grin. "They're still wrapped, so you don't have to worry about eating my spit."

"Get those slobber-covered confectioneries out of my face!" Pearl smacked the candies out of Amethyst's hand, sending them flying roughly five feet away from the party.

Amethyst crossed her arms. "Jeez, you coulda just said no."

"I did."

"Whatever." Amethyst turned to Steven while Onion picked up the rest of the candies to dump them in the ocean. "Yo, Ste-man! What's next on the list?"

"Let's see..." Steven took a look at his list after he crossed "PIÑATA" off from it. "Musical chairs!"

* * *

Everyone stood near a group of three plastic chairs standing side-by-side, back-to-back with another group of three chairs, making six chairs in total. Steven was holding his ukulele.

"Okay, so now I'm gonna start playing my ukulele, and when I stop, you all try to sit in a chair."

Pearl looked at the chairs. "I don't think there are enough chairs here for everyone, Steven."

"I know. That's the point of the game; anyone who's left without a chair loses, and the one to sit in the only chair left at the final round wins."

"Sounds pretty rigged to me," Amethyst said.

"Alright, everyone, get ready!" Steven began strumming a tune on his ukulele, prompting the rest of the group to start walking in a circle around the chairs. Steven played the final note, cuing everyone to scramble for a seat. Greg, Connie, and the four Gems all sat in the chairs, leaving Onion the first one out.

"Onion! You're out! Come stand by me until this game is wrapped up. Get it? _Wrapped up?_ Present joke!"

"Yes, Steven, very clever," Sapphire said as Greg gave a chuckle of approval.

Onion started making his way to the cake before Steven noticed and grabbed him by the wrist. "Oh, no you don't, Onion. We can have cake and ice cream later. Why don't you put one of the chairs away so we can move onto round two?"

Everyone else stood to their feet before Onion grabbed one of the chairs. He then promptly threw it near the table before giving a thumbs-up.

"That wasn't exactly what I meant when I said 'put one of the chairs away,' but whatever works for you, I guess." Steven turned to the remaining players. "Let round two begin!"

Steven played another song on his ukulele, prompting the next round to begin. They kept playing (with Steven keeping a watchful eye on Onion to make sure he doesn't get to the cake) until Ruby and Sapphire were the last two still in the game. They circled the final chair, waiting for the song to end so one of them could make a move. Steven stopped playing his ukulele, but neither Gem dared to step foot near the chair.

"Go on, Sapphire," Ruby said. "You clearly have a better chance of winning than me."

"No, Ruby, I insist," Sapphire said with a sweet smile. "You deserve it."

Ruby blushed as she rubbed the back of her neck. "No I don't."

"Will one of you lovebirds sit down already?" Amethyst asked as she crossed her arms. "I'm starting to get bored over here."

"Maybe we could both sit," Ruby suggested.

"Sorry, Ruby," Steven said. "Only one person per chair."

Ruby looked at the chair, then cast her eyes towards Sapphire, who continued to smile that sweet, gentle smile. "Well... I guess..."

Before Ruby could make her choice whether to go for it or not, Sapphire went over to sit in the chair, winning the game and prompting the red Gem to sigh, half in relief from having to make the choice, and half in disappointment for losing. (She secretly hoped to win, but Sapphire's happiness was more important to her.)

"I didn't want you to have to choose," the blue Gem told her as she put a hand on her shoulder. "I did have a better chance of winning anyway."

Pearl spoke up to get Steven's attention. "Um, Steven?"

Steven turned around to look at her. "Yeah, Pearl?"

"I appreciate what you're trying to do for us, but don't you think maybe we could do something a bit more... mature?"

"What do you mean? Didn't you like the musical chairs?"

"Well, it's just that..." Pearl tried to choose her words carefully so as not to hurt Steven's feelings. "these games we've played are more for young children. In Gem years, we're basically the equivalent of young adults."

Steven consulted his list as he crossed "MUSICAL CHAIRS" off. "Hmm... Let's see what we can find on the list that's more mature..." He carefully scanned the list with his eyes until he spotted an activity he _knew_ a mature demographic would get a kick out of, that activity being Kazoom Racers.

* * *

The group was now standing in an empty lot near the Big Donut. There were four small kiddie cars lined up perfectly in a row. "Now this is an activity I _know_ a mature demographic will get a kick out of. Kazoom Racers!"

"What?" Amethyst asked.

"Kazoom Racers. You get in a car, and race each other while playing kazoos." Steven took out a kazoo and blew on it. "What more could you want?"

"Steven, I don't think all of us are gonna fit," Connie pointed out.

"Sure we could! All you have to do is get in." Steven climbed into one of the kiddie cars with some difficulty. "See?"

Onion then climbed into the kiddie jeep next to Steven's car and drove in a circle around the rest of the group before taking off to the boardwalk.

"Look! Onion can fit!"

Amethyst shrugged. "Most of us are just too big, man. I mean, I could probably try and-" She attempted to squeeze into one of the available cars, only to fall over on her side. "Nevermind, I can't do it." And she got up and dusted herself off.

Connie, meanwhile, got into the car on the far right, her knees noticeably sticking out to reach her chest. "Look! I can fit! Kind of."

Steven just sighed and said, "Maybe this activity _is_ more for little kids."

Greg walked over to him and got down on one knee. "You feeling okay, Schtu-Ball?"

"I'm fine," Steven responded dejectedly as he climbed out of his kiddie car. "I think I just need to be alone for a bit." And he walked off back to the beach.

* * *

Steven was on the beach picking some half-deflated balloons off the ground while Lion napped under the table.

"Maybe I was wrong to throw a party for the Gems. Maybe I should've gone with a formal get-together like a mature adult would want. All those childish games? Ugh."

Suddenly, his gem started glowing, and he started growing taller, his hair becoming longer and his face gaining some new pimples and facial hair. "They're just so... _undignified_."

He moved on to stack the plastic chairs on top of each other as he grew taller still, and more muscular, gaining a five-o'-clock shadow. "I mean, seriously, what self-respecting adult would go out of their way to play musical chairs?"

Steven then became fatter and lost some hair from the top of his head as his beard grew longer. "It's all just a big fat waste of time."

Then his hair turned white and grew longer as his back hunched and his face gained some new wrinkles. "We all have such little time..." And with that, Steven fell over on the sand as he went into a coughing fit, which woke up Lion and prompted him to go over to the now-elderly half-Gem and lick him on the cheek. "I feel like I'm getting too old for any of this..."

Just then, everyone who attended Steven's party ran back to the beach.

"Steven?" Pearl spoke. "We're sorry your Kazoom Racers game didn't work out. And I'm sorry I said the games you chose are for young children. I really have nothing against children, I just thought-"

The group stopped in their tracks when they saw Lion lying near an elderly figure who was lying on the sand.

They ran over to get a closer look. Pearl picked him up and brushed the hair from his face, and gasped when she realized who it was. "_S-Steven?_"

"What happened to him?" Connie asked. "He's turned into an old man!"

"What are we gonna do?" Greg asked the Gems worriedly. "This hasn't happened before, has it?"

"No. It hasn't," Pearl said as tears started to well in her eyes. "Gems age much slower than humans, so it would make no sense that Steven would suddenly age into an elder in the span of one afternoon!"

"I believe his Gem powers might have sped up his aging process in accordance with his mental state," Sapphire said.

"So, we just need to get him to feel young again?" Connie asked.

"Steven!" Amethyst shouted at him. "Stop! Feeling! Old!"

Steven just coughed as his hair grew longer. He pointed a shaky finger at the crown Amethyst was still wearing. "The crown..."

"You want the crown?" Amethyst took off the crown and cape and sat the elderly Steven up to put them on him. "Here! Wear it with pride!" Amethyst stepped back. "You feelin' any younger?"

"No..." Steven's hair grew longer. "Thanks a lot, Amethyst... but I think this old crown and cape just ran out of birthday magic..."

"Snap out of it!" Ruby grabbed Steven by the front of his shirt (which was now too small on him after how much he grew). "C'mon, Steve, don't give up on us!" She shook him vigorously before she was quickly pulled away from him by Sapphire and Amethyst. She then fell to her knees and turned her head to look at Sapphire, quietly asking her, "What are we gonna do?" as tears began rolling down her cheeks.

"I... don't know." A single tear stream ran down the middle of Sapphire's face as she hugged Ruby close to her and began sobbing into her chest, which prompted Ruby to hug back, nearly breaking into sobs herself. Pearl also began sobbing as she hugged Amethyst tightly. "Pearl, let go!" Amethyst cried as she tried to free herself from her grasp.

"Would... you... please..." Steven started aging backwards until he became a younger, though still adult, man, and stood to his feet. "_compose yourselves?!_ I can't stand seeing you freaking out like this!"

Everyone looked at Steven in shock.

Steven then aged down to a teenager. "Uh, I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell."

"Steven! You're aging down!" Pearl exclaimed.

"I am?" Steven took a look at himself. "I am!"

"Hold on, buddy! I'll be right back." Greg ran off to get something, then came back with the activity list for the party. "Let's do some birthday activities we haven't done yet." Greg read the list. "We could play Pin The Tail On The Donkey!"

"Kinda sounds like kid stuff," Steven said.

"How about a magic show?"

"Not really my thing."

"Truth or Dare?"

"That sounds good."

"Alright!" Amethyst said. "Steven, truth or dare?"

"Dare!"

"I dare you to tell me why you started feeling old in the first place!"

"I don't know. I guess... maybe because I thought you guys didn't really like the party I threw for you, and maybe all the activities I planned were a bit... too childish."

"Steven, of _course_ we liked the party you threw for us!" Pearl said.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said. "Even if we weren't all that into the games, it was still pretty great."

"We _loved_ it," Sapphire chimed in. "Because it came from a place of love, and because you cared enough to go out of your way to try and make us happy."

"That's right, dude!" Amethyst said. "You're such a great guy and a really awesome friend who's only annoying _sometimes__._"

"You guys really think I'm that great?"

"Heck _yeah_ we do!"

"Heh. Yeah. I guess I am, aren't I?" Steven laughed happily as he aged back to his normal 12-year-old self. "Thanks, guys!"

"Steven!" Connie ran up to him and gave him a hug. "You're back to normal!"

"Good to have you back, Steven." Greg walked over and ruffled Steven's curls. "Now how about we have some cake and ice cream?"

"Sounds good to me!" Steven said. Onion then ran over to the table and grabbed the cake. "Onion! That cake is for everyone! Don't make me come over there and take it from you."

Onion just slowly made his way over to the ocean, not breaking eye contact with Steven.

"Don't take another step, mister."

Onion promptly tossed the sheet cake into the ocean, candles and all.

Steven brought a hand to his face and sighed. "Oh, Onion, what are we going to do with you?"

"Hey. We still have ice cream, don't we?" Amethyst said.

"Yeah, that's right! Who wants to come inside for ice cream?"

"Yeah!" Greg, Connie, and Amethyst cheered as everyone made their way to the beach house.


	11. Onion Day

**Dragontitan: Steven is sweet and considerate just like his canon counterpart. :)**

Steven and the Gems stood at the top of a hill which overlooked a small field containing a large group of flower bushes. The flowers were a bright pink color, and the leaves of the bushes were a vibrant green, from what Steven could see from the distance they were standing from them. The mass of foliage spread out to slowly reach the base of the hill, where a picket sign reading "Please Stay Away" was planted in the ground.

"What is that?" Steven asked.

"It's a magical purslane that was grown by Rose Diamond," Pearl explained. "She would come here every spring to tend to it and make sure it's cared for and happy." Her gem projected a hologram of Rose Diamond watering the purslane as it slowly grew flowers like the ones growing on it now. "It started out as a bunch of scraggly weeds, but over time, hundreds of beautiful flowers bloomed from its buds. She saw the true beauty in all life on Earth, even when it was hard for others to see it. It was one of the few places she wanted humans to stay away from and now that she's... _gone,_ it's becoming restless." The purslane started to crawl up the hill the Crystal Gems were standing on.

"Cool..." Steven reached out a hand to touch it, only for Pearl to pull him away.

"Steven, don't touch it!"

"Why?"

A small green hummingbird flew over to the purslane to drink some nectar from its flowers, only to get engulfed in its vine-like branches when the tip of its beak grazed one of the pink blossoms.

"That's why," Pearl answered. "The purslane will ensnare any organic life that comes into physical contact with it. Only Gems are able to touch it without being trapped by its vines. Therefore, we are the only ones who can safely tend to it." And with that, Pearl's stone glowed as she took out some gardening tools from it.

"But I'm half-Gem. I can help you guys take care of it."

"Steven, we all think it would be best if you just let us handle it," Sapphire said.

"Yeah," Amethyst said. "It's not like we're fighting a giant Rough Gem monster or anything like that. We're just taking care of a magic, sentient plant that could possibly choke all organic life to death. We'll be fine!"

"Why don't you play with one of your friends at the boardwalk or something?" Ruby suggested as he walked him back to the Warp Pad.

"But-"

* * *

But Ruby had warped them back to the beach house before he could get another word in.

Ruby put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't take it personally, kid. We just think you'd be better off taking it easy back home while we take care of Rose's purslane."

"Okay," Steven said as he got off the Warp Pad.

Ruby warped away as she said, "Keep outta trouble 'til we get back, okay?"

He walked over to Lion, who was lying on his side and enjoying the warm sunlight that shone from the window.

"Hey, Lion." Steven sat down on the floor and ran a hand through Lion's soft, light pink mane. The feline cast a glance at him.

"Yeah, I'm home early. The Gems didn't want me to help them with a magic plant that my mom grew. But since I'm here, we get to spend the day together. Why don't we go down to the boardwalk?"

Lion stood to his feet and stretched, his rear end sticking up in the air. Steven then opened the door, gesturing for Lion to walk through. "After you, my good sir." The big cat walked out the door and onto the sandy beach below. Steven followed him and climbed onto his back, and they took off to the boardwalk.

Steven rode Lion over to Beach Citywalk Fries, where Mr. Fryman was standing at the counter.

"Hey, Steven! What can I do you for?"

"Hey, Mr. Fryman. Just the bits as usual please."

"How come you always order the bits?" Mr. Fryman's younger son, Peedee, asked as he walked up to the counter. "Why don't you order regular fries for once?"

"Peedee, why don't you go help your older brother peel potatoes?" Mr. Fryman shooed him to the back of the stand, then gave Steven a paper bag full of fry bits fresh from the fryer. "Are you sure you just want the bits, Steven? I mean, there are plenty of on-menu options you could pick from."

Steven took the bits and put a five dollar bill on the counter. "I know, but the bits are the best part! Thank you!" And he walked off, eating the salty fry bits and licking the grease off his fingers.

Just then, he spotted Onion riding a blue and white moped around the boardwalk, throwing some ketchup packets onto the ground in front of him, and running them over so that they burst open and ketchup splattered all over the ground in a large puddle.

"Hey, Onion!" Steven ran over to him.

The blond boy turned his head to look at Steven.

"I didn't think you'd be hanging around the boardwalk today. So, how's your day been?"

In response, Onion lightly shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, my day's been going fine. Today I went to this hill with the Gems where they showed me this magic purslane, but they didn't want me to help take care of it since its vines tangle up anything organic that touches it. So I'm just here with Lion 'til the Gems get back."

Upon hearing his name, Lion walked over to his owner and sat down on his haunches.

"You remember Lion from the Gems' birthday party, don't you? Speaking of which, how did you like it? Did you have fun?"

Onion ignored Steven's question and held out his hand, his palm facing upwards.

"What?" Steven looked at his bag of fry bits. "Do you want my fry bits?"

Onion nodded his head yes.

"Well, here you go. I wasn't that hungry anyway." Steven handed the greasy bag over to him. And with that, Onion rode off in the other direction.

"Onion! Where are you going?" Steven ran after him, and Lion just lay down to take a nap.

Onion kept riding his moped until he reached the docks, jumping off and letting it fall into the ocean.

"Wait!" Steven stopped behind him. "Onion, what are you doing?"

Onion, facing the water, dug his hand in the bag, took out a handful of fry bits, and tossed them into the water.

Steven sighed as he watched Onion throw away all the fry bits in the bag. "So, it isn't just cake you like to throw into the ocean, huh, Onion?"

Just then, Steven saw a fishing boat approaching the dock they were standing on. A pale, thick-bearded man in a yellow rain slicker and hat came onto the dock. Onion ran over to the man and gave him a hug. The man picked him up and mumbled unintelligibly at him, with Onion mumbling back, apparently sharing a conversation with the older man. The man put him back down and got back on the boat, sailing off to the distant horizon. Onion waved him goodbye.

"Was that your dad?" Steven asked him, prompting Onion to nod yes in response.

"It seems like you don't get to see him very often, huh?"

Onion nodded again.

"Do you get bored waiting for him to come home?"

Onion nodded a third time.

"Well why don't we hang out and have some fun for a little while? Make today an Onion day?"

Onion nodded once more, this time more enthusiastically.

"Okay! Just lead me to whatever you think seems like fun, and we'll do it!"

Onion grabbed Steven by the hand and led him away from the docks.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, they eventually made their way to Funland Arcade.

"Funland Arcade?" Steven rubbed the back of his head. "I kinda got banned from there after Ruby set the place on fire."

"Hey!" Steven jumped when he heard the voice of Mr. Smiley from behind him. He and Onion turned around to see him scowling down at them. "Steven, I thought I told you and your Crystal friends you were banned from Funland Arcade for the rest of the year! And you!" He pointed at Onion. "If you try to steal tickets from the arcade machines again, I'm gonna have to call the authorities."

"Sorry, Mr. Smiley. We'll just be over at the amusement park part of Funland." Steven and Onion began walking away before the older man grabbed Onion by the back of his shirt.

"Oh, no _you_ don't!" Mr. Smiley turned to Steven as he pointed at Onion. "This li'l rascal here is banned from Beach City Funland after he dismantled the Teacup ride with a monkey wrench a few months back!"

Steven looked at Onion in surprise. "So that was_ you_ who caused the incident with the Teacups?"

Onion shrugged, as if to say "What can I say?"

Mr. Smiley put Onion back down on the ground. "Now you two kids better skedaddle before one of you inevitably causes more damage to my property."

* * *

Steven and Onion went down to the downtown area of Beach City.

"Sounds like you built something of a reputation, huh, Onion? Maybe we should find something to do that doesn't involve stealing or breaking stuff."

As they were walking around, Steven looked around for something that was fun, and didn't break the law. Window shopping? No, that didn't sound like something Onion would like. Besides, Steven probably couldn't afford anything from the fancy stores. Surfing? Steven didn't know how, and Onion probably didn't know how to surf either. Kite flying? It wasn't windy enough. Steven's train of thought was interrupted by a seagull flying down to peck at a discarded donut lying on the ground. That's when he got an idea.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we feed the seagulls?"

Onion just blinked at him.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Let's go to the Big Donut and get some food for them." Steven led Onion to the Big Donut.

* * *

Sadie put the half dozen box of plain donuts on the front counter, Steven giving her a 5 dollar bill in exchange which she put in the cash register.

"Are you sure you just want plain, Steven?"

Steven took the box off the counter. "I'm sure. Me and Onion here were just gonna feed the seagulls."

"You're hanging out with that little weirdo?" Lars asked as he was stocking some custard-filled donuts. "I thought you'd be hanging out with the Crystal Babes or something."

"Lars, lay off!"

"The Crystal Gems are busy taking care of a magic plant that my mom grew, and they don't want me to help because its vines will tangle up anything organic that touches it."

"Cool. Well, have a nice day!"

"You too!" Steven and Onion walked out the door.

They walked over to the nearest bench and sat down. Steven took out one of the donuts, tore a small piece off of it, and threw it on the ground for a seagull to fly over and eat.

"Isn't this fun?" Steven asked Onion, who was sitting and watching next to him. He handed him the box of donuts. "Here. You try."

Onion took out a donut and threw it at the bird, who gave a shrill cry as it flew away.

"Onion! Why would you do that? Here. Let me show you how it's done." He broke off another piece of his donut. "You break off a piece of the donut like this. And then you just throw it on the ground." Steven did just so to demonstrate. Another seagull flew down to eat it. "See? Now you do what I just did."

Onion took another donut, pulled a piece off of it, and threw the donut at the seagull, still holding the broken-off piece in his hand. He looked back at Steven, as if asking him how he did.

"Maybe feeding the seagulls isn't for you," Steven said.

Onion looked down at his feet.

"That's okay. We can just go do something else. We've got the whole day to spend together!"

Suddenly, they heard a scream coming from the boardwalk.

"Uh oh!" Steven took off near the source of the scream, Onion tailing close behind.

They arrived at Fish Stew Pizza, where they saw Kofi and his daughters standing there angrily as Lion was digging his nose into Fish Stew Pizza's garbage. "Is this _your_ pet?" he asked as he gestured to the pink feline.

Steven ran over to pull Lion away. "Lion, no! Don't eat out of the garbage!" Steven turned to Kofi. "Sorry, Mr. Pizza. We'll be on our way." Onion climbed onto Lion's back as Steven led them away from the pizzeria.

Steven looked up to see Onion on Lion's back, patting on his flank in an attempt to make him go faster. "So, you wanna go for a ride, Onion?"

Onion nodded at him.

"Well, okay! We can do that! It's not likely anyone or anything will get hurt or destroyed." Steven climbed onto Lion's back behind Onion. "Hold on!" And with a couple of pats on his flank, Lion started running. The two boys rode Lion around Beach City, weaving through the various obstacles and pedestrians as Steven steered by lightly pulling a couple of handfuls of their mount's thick mane towards the direction he wanted him to go. The half-Gem boy hollered and laughed as he felt the invigorating breeze blowing past his face and through his curls. "Isn't this fun, Onion?" he asked the little blond boy sitting in front of him.

Onion watched what Steven was doing and tried to steer Lion himself, grabbing a couple of handfuls of his mane and pulling hard in random directions. The big cat ran faster and shook his head as he growled in discomfort, trying to get the little pest off of him. He kept bumping into things in the process, scaring some passersby who Steven was quick to apologise to.

"Onion, what are you doing?! Stop! You're hurting Lion!"

But Onion wasn't listening. He just kept steering haphazardly in all directions, the world around them having become a blur as they sped by. "Onion, please!" Steven grabbed Onion's hands and pulled them away. "That's _enough!_"

The next thing they knew, they were in a field near a small hill. Steven knew that Onion had inadvertently taken them to the hill where the Gems were tending to his mother's purslane. Lion plopped down on his stomach to take a nap, exhausted from the long run he had just been on. Onion then ran over to where the purslane was, with Steven giving chase.

"Onion, no! Don't touch that stuff!"

* * *

Pearl cut some of the purslane's overgrown vines with some hedge clippers. "There we are. You feel much better now after a trim, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking to it for," Amethyst said as she watered a section of the purslane, causing it to shrink a little. "It's not like it can hear you or anything."

"I'll have you know that Rose used to talk to the purslane all the time."

Amethyst then spotted something. "Hey, is that that Onion kid?"

Onion was running towards the plant, and grabbed hold of it when he was in close enough proximity. The purslane then wrapped itself around his wrist, wrapping tighter when he tried to pull himself out.

"Onion!" Steven grabbed Onion's other arm and tried to pull him out, but more vines began slithering against his body and winding themselves around his limbs. Steven pulled harder, but to no avail.

"Steven, what happened?" Pearl asked him as she and the rest of the Gems ran over. "Why are you and Onion here?"

"I was just trying to spend some time with Onion while his dad was away doing fisherman stuff." Steven was still struggling to pull Onion out of the purslane, only for some of its vines to wrap around him as well. "We rode Lion but then Onion tried to steer him and he took us here. I know you said Mom wanted humans to stay away from this place, but I swear it was an accident! I'm sorry, and I'm sure Onion's sorry too."

Ruby growled in anger as she brought both of her hands to her face. "This is just great! I told you to stay out of trouble, and what do you go and do? You do the exact opposite of what you were supposed to!"

"I know," Steven began to tear up as more vines began to engulf him. "It's my fault for letting Onion ride Lion in the first place, now we're probably both gonna die tangled up in these vines." The tear slid down Steven's cheek, causing the vine it landed on to shrink back. "Huh?"

Just then, the sky darkened as it started sprinkling. The raindrops fell all over the field, sprinkling the purslane and causing its vines to recoil, releasing Steven and Onion from their grasp as they shrunk back to their original state.

"So the purslane was just thirsty," Steven said.

"Are you two alright?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah."

"It just goes to show that you should be more careful next time you decide to let one of your friends ride on your lion, Steven."

"I know. I'll remember that next time."

Onion looked back at the purslane. Specifically, its flowers. He reached a hand out to pick one, only to reel it back in hesitation.

Steven walked over to him. "What's the matter, Onion?"

Onion looked up at him, then back at the purslane.

"Did you wanna pick some of the purslane's flowers for your dad?"

Onion nodded his head yes.

"Well, I don't know if the Gems will let you take any of them, but I'm sure there are plenty of flowers in this field you could pick." Steven spotted a lone daffodil growing nearby. He pointed over to it. "Like that one." Onion ran over to pluck it out of the ground. He then got on top of Lion.

Steven ran over and pushed him back a little, then sat in front of him. "You better let me steer this time." He turned his head towards the Gems and called out "Onion and I are heading back to Beach City!"

"Alright!" Pearl called out as she and the rest of the Gems stepped onto the Warp Pad. "We'll make sure to meet you after we warp back!" And the Gems warped back to the Temple.

Steven patted Lion on the head. "Hey, Lion. Do you wanna take us back to Beach City?" Lion stood up, and with a stretch and a yawn, the pink feline bounded his way back to Beach City, the two boys riding on his back.


	12. Boomerang Blade!

**Dragontitan: What'd I tell you? Sweet and considerate.**

Steven, Ruby, Sapphire, and Amethyst were all sitting on the bleachers of the Solar Spire's arena. Pearl was standing in the middle of the arena holding a sword in each hand.

"Alright, Steven. Today, I'll be showing you the art of swordfighting. Your mother herself was an excellent swordswoman, and we all think it would be a good idea if you learned some basic techniques. Luckily, I just so happen to have the perfect sparring partner with me to help demonstrate." Pearl's gemstone glowed, projecting a hologram of herself who stood right across from her.

"Whoa! Holo-Pearl!" Steven exclaimed.

"BATTLE MODE ENGAGED," the hologram Pearl said as the real Pearl tossed it one of her swords. "DO YOU WISH TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT?"

Pearl drew her sword out in front of her. "Let's make sure to keep it simple so Steven can keep track of what's going on."

"COMMENCING DUEL!"

The two Pearls began swinging their swords at each other, the blades clashing and occasionally locking together. There were no fancy moves or jumps or anything special, they were just doing simple parries and thrusts and slashes.

"Pay close attention, Steven," Pearl told him as she continued her sparring match with her double. "Watch where I keep my center of gravity."

Steven quickly started losing interest. "Couldn't you show me something cool? Like the Boomerang Blade from the Lonely Blade series!"

"Steven, I'm trying to teach you real sword techniques. Real swordfighting is nothing like in those silly movies of yours. It's about waiting for the perfect moment to strike on your opponent!" Pearl's sword then locked blades with Holo-Pearl's sword once more. "Not fancy performance pieces."

"C'mon, _please?_" Steven began chanting as he banged his fists on the sides of his seat. "Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade!"

"Steven, this is serious!" Just then, while Pearl was distracted, Holo-Pearl slashed its sword across the real Pearl's midsection, slicing her clean in half as her sword fell out of her grip. Her upper half fell onto the tiled floor of the arena while her lower half stumbled a bit before falling over forward.

"CHALLENGER DEFEATED!"

Steven covered his mouth as a horrified gasp escaped him. He jumped off the bleachers and ran over to the bisected Gem, screaming her name in anguish.

"Oh no! What have I done?" Steven kneeled down beside Pearl's upper half and held her hand in both of his. The suspenders of her shorts were sloughing off her shoulders as she lay on her back motionless. Her cyan eyes stared wide and unblinking with her lips parted ever so slightly. Cyan liquid similar to what he saw Rough Gems and Ruby bleed was slowly oozing out of the bottom where she had been cut.

"Steven!" The rest of the Gems ran over to them.

"What happened?" Ruby asked him.

"I..." Steven tried to wipe the tears from his face, only for them to keep coming. "Pearl, she..." A sniffle. "Sh-She was trying to show me... and I distracted her, and... n-now she's..."

"Hey, it's okay, bud," Amethyst assured him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Pearl's gonna be fine."

"R-Really?"

"Yes, really," Sapphire said. "You see, Steven, Gems, unlike humans, are made up of a mix of crystalline and organic material, so we can be put back together if our bodies are broken into separate pieces."

Steven wiped away some more tears. "How's that?"

"We have a special liquid running through our veins called Essence that sustains our life functions and helps repair our bodies if they take bad enough damage, kinda like a magic glue that's used for fixing people instead of objects," Ruby explained. "You saw how my foot got broken off and reattached the last time we came here, right?"

"This sorta thing just happens to us sometimes," Amethyst said. "Mostly to me. What can I say? I'm scrappy like that."

"So, how long will it take for Pearl to heal from this?"

Sapphire hummed in thought. "About a week should be enough time."

Steven smiled hopefully. "Okay, that doesn't sound too long."

* * *

-9 days later-

Steven sat on the floor, stroking a napping Lion's fur while keeping his eyes on the Temple Door. The Gems told him to not worry too much, and that Pearl will be perfectly fine soon enough. But it was hard to keep calm when such a big piece of everyday life had been ripped away from him, and by his own carelessness at that. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind would replay that moment where Pearl was slashed in half by her holographic double, all because he distracted her. He hated feeling so guilty, and he especially hated the thought of one of his loved ones getting killed thanks to him. He was taken out of his thoughts by Amethyst walking into the beach house through the front door. In her hands was a box of donuts.

"Hey, dude!" she greeted. "I got you some donuts."

"Thanks, but I'm not really hungry."

Amethyst looked around after putting the donuts on the coffee table. The beach house was more of a mess than usual; some of Steven's discarded clothes were scattered on the floor, there were some food wrappers and used paper plates littering the kitchen counter, and the kitchen sink, which was normally empty, was filled with bowls and cups. "Well, I like what you've done with the place."

"Pearl usually helps me clean up." Steven looked up at Amethyst with a sad, lost look on his face. "How much longer am I supposed to wait, Amethyst? I can't keep living like this."

"I can." Steven's frown deepened, which didn't go unnoticed by the purple Gem. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that!" Amethyst put a comforting hand on Steven's head and ruffled his dark, curly hair. "I'm sure Pearl's healing just fine! She'll probably be back on her feet before we know it."

"Can we go see her?"

"We should probably wait 'til Ruby and Sapphire get back."

As if right on cue, the Warp Pad hummed to life and brought the two Corundums back to the Temple.

Steven ran right over to them. "Ruby! Sapphire! Can one of you take me to see-"

"Yes, Steven, one of us can take you to see Pearl," Sapphire interrupted calmly as ever. The blue Gem turned around and stepped off of the Warp Pad to face the Temple Door. Steven went over to take her left hand. She raised her right hand, her gem glowing as the blue stone on the Door glowed and the Door opened to her and Ruby's room.

* * *

They walked in towards the telltale waterfall that led to Pearl's room, Steven being careful to avoid stepping on any of the cracks on the floor. When they got to the waterfall, Sapphire picked up Steven in her arms and jumped up into the air, floating back down into Pearl's room.

Pearl's room looked just like it did the last time Steven visited; the same pool of water and the same tall water pillars. However, there was now a bed-like structure that Steven hadn't noticed before, no doubt where Pearl was resting.

Sapphire set Steven down on the water which, to his surprise, was dense enough to actually stand on. Steven took a cautious step forward while still holding onto Sapphire's hand. It kind of felt like he was walking on a waterbed, his foot sinking slightly into the crystalline surface, but not enough to the point where it was submerged. The two of them came closer to the structure that Pearl was lying on. The structure looked like it was made of marble or some other smooth stone material, not something that Steven would find very comfortable. Pearl was lying still on her back with her head resting on a teal pillow, eyes closed and hands folded on her abdomen, as if she were asleep. Instead of her usual attire, all she wore was a stark white robe that barely reached her knees.

"Hello, Pearl. How are you feeling?"

Upon hearing Sapphire's voice, the healing Gem turned her head and opened her eyes to look at her. "I'm doing much better now," she said just barely above a whisper. "I think I'm about ready to go back out."

"That's good to hear." Sapphire gestured to Steven, who was still holding her hand. "Steven has come by to visit you."

"Hi, Pearl," Steven said hesitantly.

"Hello, Steven," she greeted, giving him a small smile.

"Pearl," Steven looked down at his feet. "I'm _really_ sorry I distracted you while you were trying to teach me about swordfighting."

Pearl reached a slender hand out to caress Steven's cheek. "Steven, it's okay. I'm fine now."

"But Holo-Pearl sliced you in half because of me! It's my fault you almost died!"

"Steven, it's fine. I got a little hurt, and now I'm better. Worse things have happened to me in battle."

"What could be worse than getting sliced in half with a sword?"

Pearl sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "Trust me, Steven, I've been fighting for hundreds of years. I was bound to have quite a few particularly bad accidents under my belt."

"Well, I'm gonna make sure nothing like that happens again. I'll do my absolute best to keep you safe."

"You really don't need to do that."

"But I don't want you getting hurt again!"

Pearl reached her hand back out to stroke Steven's curls. "Steven, I know you're worried for my well-being after the incident back at the arena, but becoming my bodyguard really isn't necessary. I'm more than capable of holding my own in a fight, and if worse comes to worse, the other Crystal Gems will always have my back."

"And now I have your back too."

"If you say so, Steven." Pearl got up from her bed and stretched. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to get dressed so I can come back out and see everyone again."

"Come on, Steven." Sapphire led the boy by the hand to the Temple Door, which had emerged from near the edge of the watery surface.

* * *

Steven and Sapphire came back into the beach house.

"So, how is she?" Ruby asked. "Is she doing any better?"

"She said she's ready to come back out again," Sapphire answered. "Although, Steven still seems worried about her."

"Hey, don't sweat it, kiddo," Ruby assured him, giving him a pat on the back. "You know, Pearl is actually a lot tougher than she looks. She's survived way worse than being sliced in half with a sword."

"Yeah, she told me," Steven said. "But I just don't wanna see her getting hurt again after what happened back at the Solar Spire's arena."

The Temple Door opened again, and out came Pearl, who was now dressed in her usual clothes. She straightened her tie as she walked onto the Warp Pad. "Hello, everyone. I'm back." She took a moment to look around the beach house. "My goodness, this place is a mess. Just how long was I away for?"

"Like, nine days." Amethyst proceeded to eat one of the donuts she brought in. "Want a donut?"

"No thank you. I'll just make some tea, then I'll start tidying up." Pearl started to make her way to the kitchen before Steven stopped her.

"I'll do it!"

"Steven, I-"

"I don't want you to get burned. You just go ahead and tidy up while I make you tea."

"That's very thoughtful of you, Steven, but I'm quite certain I don't need to worry about burning myself."

"Better safe than sorry."

"Alright, Steven. I'll start with the dishes, and then I'll get started on picking your things up off the floor." Pearl walked over to the sink and applied dish soap to the sponge before taking a dirty butter knife out of the sink to scrub it clean.

Steven's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the knife, and he ran over to take the sponge from Pearl. "You know what? I can take care of that too."

"But what about the tea?"

Steven turned his head towards Ruby's direction. "Ruby!"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind making tea? I'm kinda busy washing the dishes."

"Of course!" Ruby grabbed the tea kettle off the stove and hugged it to her chest. The kettle quickly started boiling as Ruby heated it up.

Pearl began picking up Steven's dirty clothes and putting them in the hamper. "Steven, you could also do some picking up as well, since you're so insistent on helping me."

"I'm on it!" Steven grabbed all the paper plates and discarded food wrappers off the counter and threw them in the garbage, then ran over to the living room to pick up the rest of his clothes, unaware that he left the water running in the sink.

"Steven, the water!"

"Oh jeez!" Steven ran back to the kitchen to shut the water off.

"Tea's done!" Ruby said, grabbing Steven's attention.

"Great. Just let it cool off a bit." Steven picked up some of the clothes he dropped and walked off to put them in the hamper. He swept some dust off his hands. "There. All done."

Ruby walked over to them with a mug of hot tea in each of her hands. "Who wants tea?"

"Thank you, Ruby." Pearl grabbed one of the mugs with both hands.

"Hold on! Lemme go get you a straw!" Steven ran back to the kitchen.

"A straw? With tea?"

Steven came back with a pink plastic straw. "Well, I don't want you to end up burning your lip."

"In that case, wouldn't it make more sense to let it cool entirely before I drink it?"

"You're right. Hey, Sapphire, could you cool off Pearl's tea for her?"

Sapphire walked over and took Pearl's mug from her. The blue Gem held the ceramic container in both hands, using her freezing abilities to cool the tea held within. Small florets of frost formed around where she gripped the mug.

Pearl then quickly took it back, brushing off the frost with one hand while gripping the handle with the other. "Thank you, Sapphire, I think that's long enough." She took a peek inside of the mug. "In fact, I think you froze it."

Sapphire simply hummed in response.

"Do you want mine?" Steven asked as he held up his mug.

"That's very nice of you, Steven, but I'm not really in the mood for tea anymore." Pearl walked to the kitchen and put her mug on the counter.

"That's okay. How about I put on a movie? That's a perfectly safe and fun thing to do."

* * *

Steven and the Gems were sitting in his bedroom loft, watching Lonely Blade 4 on the TV. They were at the climax where the titular Lonely Blade confronts the Shadow Samurai President.

"So it was _you!_" Lonely Blade said, his original Japanese voice dubbed over in English. "_You_ are the one who killed my _brother!_ _You_ cursed me to fight alone _forever!_"

"Man, this dub is really good," Steven said as he rolled over on his back. "What do you think, Pearl?"

"It's alright. Though the dialogue can get a bit awkward at times."

Amethyst shushed her and pointed to the TV. "Here comes the best part." And she ate a handful of microwaved popcorn.

"For my _honor_ and my _brother_, I shall strike you _down!_" On the screen, Lonely Blade joined his two katanas together by the ends of the hilts. He promptly threw them at the Shadow Samurai President. "Boomerang _Blade!_"

Steven's mind suddenly went to the moment things took a turn for the worse.

_Steven began chanting as he banged his fists on the sides of his seat. "Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade! Boomerang Blade!"_

_"Steven, this is serious!" Just then, while Pearl was distracted, Holo-Pearl slashed its sword across the real Pearl's midsection, slicing her clean in half as her sword fell out of her grip._

Steven shook his head and got up to take the DVD out of the DVR.

"Steven, what are you doing?" Pearl asked him.

"Ah, Lonely Blade is overrated anyway." Steven put the DVD back in its case, which he put on top of the DVR. "Let's just watch some Crying Breakfast Friends." He changed the channel on the TV to the one that Crying Breakfast Friends was currently playing on. In the episode, Crying Pear was lying on the ground, sliced in half, bawling their eyes out. Wailing Waffle was standing beside them, also bawling their eyes out.

"I'm so sorry!" Wailing Waffle wailed. "It's my fault you got hurt!"

"No it isn't!" Crying Pear retorted through their tears. "You did nothing wrong!"

"But if I hadn't distracted you, you would still be okay!"

Steven quickly switched the TV off. "You know, on second thought, TV is pretty overrated in general. How about we just read books instead?"

Pearl sighed at Steven's actions. "Alright, Steven." She got up to reach one of the books on the shelf before Steven stopped her.

"Let me grab it for you! I don't want you getting a papercut."

"Steven, it's fine, really."

Suddenly, there was a loud screech coming from outside.

"There's a Rough Emerald attacking the boardwalk," Sapphire said as she started heading downstairs. The rest of the Gems summoned their weapons before following her.

Steven grabbed Pearl by the leg of her shorts. "Wait, Pearl! I don't want you getting hurt in battle!"

"I'm sorry, Steven, but duty calls." Pearl pried the boy's fingers off of her coral pink garment and went off to join the other Crystal Gems.

"At least let me come with you so I can protect you!"

Pearl turned her head to look at him a final time before leaving. "Steven, I know you're worried about me, but I think I can handle it. Besides, it isn't like I'll be fighting alone." And with that, she closed the door behind her.

Steven thought about the talk he and Pearl had when Sapphire brought him up to her room, about how he would do his best to keep her safe from harm. He wasn't about to give up on that promise.

* * *

The Rough Emerald was a 15-foot-tall, bright green monstrosity that closely resembled a giant praying mantis. It stood on four legs that ended in sharp, brilliant green points. Its front limbs ended in curved sickles that slashed through everything in its path. Its sharp-toothed maw was agape and shrieking a terrible cry that made the human dwellers of the boardwalk run for cover.

The Crystal Gems had just arrived to take care of it, with Steven following close behind. Amethyst rolled into a ball and threw herself at one of the Emerald's legs, toppling it over onto its side as the wooden boards splintered and cracked with the force of its fall, though it promptly stood back up without even so much as a scratch. The Rough Emerald swung one of its sickles at her before Pearl fired a laser from the head of her spear, gaining its attention. She jumped out of the way when it swung its sickle at her, and that's when Steven was heard calling her name.

"Steven, what are you doing here?" Pearl asked as she continually dodged the Rough Emerald's attacks.

"I came here to protect you!"

"Steven, go home! I've got it under control! Really!"

Pearl leapt up over another swinging sickle, slashing her spear at the Emerald in return.

"No way! I swore that I'd do my best to keep you safe, and that's what I aim to do." Steven's gemstone started glowing, and a circular mass of pink light started to form around it before the Rough Emerald took notice and swung down one of its sickles towards him, causing the barely-formed shield to dissipate before Steven broke into a run, screaming in fear, the Emerald chasing after him.

"Steven!"

Just then, Sapphire shot a beam of ice magic at the Rough Emerald's legs, freezing them together in a large mass of ice and leaving it immobile. Steven stopped running and watched as it writhed and hacked at the ice with its sickles, trying to free itself.

"Now's your chance, Pearl," Sapphire said. "Slay the Rough Emerald while the rest of us stay behind and help the civilians."

"Right."

Pearl leapt up into the air and jabbed her spear into the nape of the Rough Emerald's neck, causing it to screech in pain. Then with all of her might, she slashed it's head clean off, the head, where its rectangular stone rested between its massive eyes, falling onto the ground hard. Its entire body grew limp as its Essence slowly spilled from its neck holes.

Pearl jumped down in a crouch, then standing back up and stretching her arms over her head with a tired sigh. She looked down at the half-Gem and asked him "Are you alright, Steven?"

Steven blinked at her, wiping some tears out of his eyes. "Y-Yeah, but..."

"Steven," Pearl got down on one knee and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know how worried you were about me after what happened the other day, but you should know that it's _our_ job to worry about _you_, not the other way around." Pearl stood straight again and smiled at him smugly while putting her hands on her hips. "And I'll have you know that I'm _much_ tougher than I look."

"After what I just saw, I definitely believe it."

Pearl picked him up in her arms as the rest of the Gems walked over. "Now why don't we go home and continue watching Lonely Blade?"

"Now wait just a minute!" they heard an angry voice say. It was Kofi, his teen daughters and elderly mother Nanefua standing behind him. "Who is going to pay for the damages to my shop?"

"We just saved your lives," Ruby retorted. "I'm pretty sure human lives are more important than pizza."

"I think the red one has a point, Kofi," Nanefua told him.

"Yeah, Daddy, let's give them a break," Jenny said.

Kofi looked at the decapitated Rough Emerald before giving a relenting sigh as he crossed his arms. "Alright, you're off the hook."

The Crystal Gems walked off back to the Temple, ignoring the "for now" Kofi muttered under his breath.

* * *

Pearl was swordfighting with her holographic double in the Solar Spire's arena, the rest of the Crystal Gems watching from the bleachers. She thrust her sword into Holo-Pearl's abdomen.

"MATCH SET. CHALLENGER WINS." it said as its arms hung down to its sides in defeat. "DO YOU WISH TO SPAR AGAIN?"

"Steven, would you like to give it a try?" Pearl asked him.

"Yeah!" The boy got up from the bleachers and ran over to her.

Pearl turned to Holo-Pearl and told it "Activate training mode."

Holo-Pearl parried the air, followed by another parry, which was followed by a thrust. It continued in a pattern as it cried "PARRY! PARRY! THRUST!" on loop like a broken record. Pearl handed him the sword she was holding.

"Try to see if you can defeat the Holo-Pearl, and remember to keep your balance."

Steven held the sword out in front of him, slashing at Holo-Pearl and countering its parries and thrusts. One strategically placed thrust into Holo-Pearl's abdomen and its arms fell to its sides. "TRAINING MODE COMPLETED. DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE TO INTERMEDIATE MODE?"

"Yeah!"

"I think that's enough training for today, Steven." Holo-Pearl disappeared as the real Pearl's stone glowed.

"Aw, man, but I wanted to see if I could do the Boomerang Blade."

"Maybe some other time, but I still think it's too early for something like that. And besides, I intend to focus more on _real_ swordfighting techniques."

"Okay, but the Boomerang Blade is really cool! You throw your sword and it comes right back like a boomerang! That's awesome!"

"But it's really unrealistic."

Steven just ignored her and continued talking about the Boomerang Blade and about Lonely Blade in general. Pearl just sighed and said "I can never get you to listen, can I?"


	13. Hangin' With The Cool Kids

**Dragon Titan 1: Yeah, I thought it would be interesting if the Gems' physiology were different from in the series.**

**coronadomontes: thanks**

Steven was helping Greg wash cars at It's A Wash, the car wash that he ran. As they worked, Steven was recounting the fight between the Crystal Gems and the Rough Emerald at the boardwalk.

"And then Pearl jumped up onto its back and sliced its head off with her spear! All by herself!" Steven wrung his sponge over a bucket. "She really is a lot stronger than she looks."

Greg gave a chuckle in response as he hosed down the car they were washing, a large, white van with a giant effigy of Mayor Dewey's head atop its roof, which the mayor called his "Election-Mobile". "Yeah, she used to brag about how much stronger she was than any human when I was still dating your mother." He stood back to see how good of a job they did. "Looks good! Could you go turn off the hose for me, Schtu-Ball?"

"On it!" Steven went to do just that.

The mayor of Beach City himself was sitting nearby reading a newspaper.

"She's all clean and ready to roll, Mr. Mayor, sir!" Greg called to him.

"Wonderful, Universe!" Mayor Dewey walked over and climbed into the driver's seat. "You can't be a good mayor with a dirty Election-Mobile." He took out a 50 dollar bill from his wallet and gave it to the chubby man. "Here's fifty dollars for your trouble." And then he drove away, the siren of his van chanting "_May-or Dew-ey_" on loop.

"So, what are the Gems up to now?" Greg asked his son.

"They're out looking for a big Rough Gem that's on the loose around Beach City, and they didn't want me to get hurt, so here I am, helping you at the car wash."

"Well, it doesn't look like anyone else is coming by right now. Why don't you go grab us a pizza for lunch?" Greg gave Steven the 50 dollar bill.

* * *

Steven was walking to Fish Stew Pizza with the 50 dollar bill in hand, humming a happy tune. As he walked, he spotted Lars standing near the entrance with his back against the wall and his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Lars!" Steven broke into a run towards the Filipino teen.

"Ugh, why today?" Lars groaned as he brought a hand to his face.

"Lars, Lars, Lars, Lars!"

"What do you want, Steven?"

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Nothing," he answered curtly. "Leave me alone."

"Well, I was just gonna go in and order some pizza for me and my dad. Do you want anything?" Steven waved the 50 dollar bill in front of him. "I've got plenty of money right here."

"No, Steven, I don't want anything."

"Then what are you doing outside of Fish Stew Pizza? Is Sadie ordering lunch for the two of you, and the reason you're not in there with her is that you don't want anyone to know you're dating?"

"No, and we're not dating!"

"You're not? Then why are you out here, then?"

Lars gave a sigh of hesitation as he cast his eyes to the door. "The Cool Kids are in there talking about the rave they're having tonight, and I was _going_ to go in and ask if I could come."

Steven looked inside the pizzeria and saw Jenny and two unfamiliar teenage boys sitting at one of the tables and having a conversation. He looked back at Lars and asked "You mean Jenny and her friends?"

Lars turned back to Steven. "Yes. But now I don't think I can talk to them now that _you're_ here."

"Why not?"

"Because if they see me with you, they'll think I'm lame or something."

"No they won't!" Steven assured him. "Just go in and talk to them!" And he held the door open for him and gestured for the teen to go inside.

Lars looked at Steven, then looked at the Cool Kids' table. "Alright, but you're staying out here where they won't see you. And if they do see you, I don't know you, got it?"

"You got it, dude." Steven gave him a wink and a thumbs-up.

Lars sighed and made his way in.

* * *

Lars struggled to figure out what to say to the Cool Kids as he walked to their table. Should he ask how their day is going? Or should he go with a more direct approach and ask about their rave tonight? Crap! What should he say? Should he even say anything at all, or should he just stand there and wait until they talk to him first?

"Hey, Lars!" The Filipino froze in response to hearing his name. He looked at Jenny, who was the source of the voice.

"H-Hey, Jenny, Buck, Sour Cream! How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Come sit with us!"

Lars turned around a chair and sat down at the table with them, resting his arms on top of the back. "So, uh..." He cleared his throat. "I... uh... heard you were having a rave tonight." A tapping on glass caught Lars' attention. He looked at saw Steven outside, grinning and giving him a thumbs-up.

"Who's that?" the pale teenager, Sour Cream, asked.

Lars started sweating bullets. "Uh..." He made a "pfff" sound with his mouth while waving a hand in the air. "Just some random kid I don't know. It's fine."

"That looks like Steven," Jenny said.

Lars sweated harder. "S-Steven who?"

"Steven Diamond Universe!" Jenny replied. "He's a regular here!"

"Y-You don't say..."

"Hey, Steven!" Jenny shouted loud enough for the boy outside to hear, causing Lars to flinch. "Come on over here!"

Steven pointed to himself, as if asking if the girl was referring to him.

"Yes, you! Come on!" She gestured for him to come inside.

Lars watched with dread as Steven made his way in. The younger boy walked over to the table where they were all sitting. "So, what's going on?" He asked Jenny. "Jenny, did you want to introduce me to your friends?"

"Yeah!" Jenny gestured to Sour Cream. "This is Sour Cream."

"It's a pleasure," he said.

"That's Buck."

Buck, the teen with the opaque sunglasses, held up a peace sign. "Sup?"

"And this is Lars. He just got here."

Lars faked a smile, still sweating profusely.

Seemingly oblivious to Lars' discomfort, Steven held his hand out to shake. "Hello, stranger whom I've never met before!"

Lars ignored Steven's offer for a handshake and said "So, uh... about that rave?"

"Oh, yeah!" Jenny said. "We were gonna go throw a rave at that abandoned warehouse outside of town and invite some of our friends. Did you guys wanna go?"

"Heck yeah! I mean," Lars cleared his throat again. "Sure, sounds cool."

"I don't know," Steven said. "My dad told me about the sort of stuff that happens at raves."

"Don't worry. It'll be totally family-friendly."

"I'll be deejaying," Sour Cream said.

"And there'll be plenty of free glow sticks," Buck added.

"Free glow sticks does sound like a pretty good deal."

"I don't know about letting him come, guys," Lars said. "I mean, it'll probably be really late, and I mean, we all know how important it is for kids to get their 10 hours of sleep, right?"

"Don't worry," Jenny said. "It starts at 8:30, and I'll be sure to bring Steven home before it gets too late."

"I'll discuss it with my dad and the Gems later," Steven said. "But for right now, I gotta order some pizza for lunch." And he walked up to the front counter to do just that.

* * *

After a few hours had passed, Steven was now getting ready for the rave. He looked at himself in the mirror as he fixed the leather jacket he was wearing. He shot himself a couple of finger guns. "Lookin' good."

"So, what time did you say this rave was?" Amethyst asked.

"8:30. Are you sure you guys don't wanna come?"

"We would if we could, Steven," Pearl said. "But the Rough Gem we've been looking for is still on the loose somewhere around Beach City. We hope you'll have fun regardless."

Just then, there was the honking of a car horn.

"That must be them!" Steven ran out the door to greet them.

"Bye, Steve!" Ruby said as she and the rest of the Gems waved. "Have fun at your rave thing!"

Steven made his way over to a Jeep that was painted like a pizza. Jenny was behind the steering wheel while Buck was in the passenger seat and Lars was in the back. Sour Cream was nowhere in sight. "Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Steven!" Jenny exclaimed. "Glad you could come with us! I'm really likin' the jacket."

Steven took a look at his jacket. "Thanks. I got it at the thrift store. I thought I'd look good for tonight. Nothing too fancy, but not too casual either."

"Man, thrift stores are so lame, right, guys?" Lars said.

"Man, don't say that," Buck said. "Thrift stores sell some pretty cool stuff."

Lars laughed nervously. "Oh, yeah. Thrift stores sell some _awesome_ stuff. Like, this one time, I went to this thrift shop with my mom, and there were all these tee shirts with the logos of old rock bands on them. That's cool, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Buck said. Lars shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not sure how to feel about the teen's flat, nonchalant tone.

"You comin' in, Steven?" Jenny asked the younger boy.

"Oh, yeah!" Steven climbed into the Jeep and fastened his seatbelt. "So, where's Sour Cream?"

"He's already at the warehouse deejaying it up," Buck answered.

"Okay, who's ready to party?!" Jenny asked, receiving some cheers in response. "Alright! Let's get this show on the road!" And Steven, Lars, and the Cool Kids all drove to their destination.

"This is pretty great, isn't it, Lars?" Steven asked the Filipino he was sitting next to. "Just you and me, hangin' with the Cool Kids."

"You better not do anything to embarrass me at the rave," Lars warned him through gritted teeth, speaking in a whisper so the Buck and Jenny wouldn't hear him.

"Don't worry," The half-Gem assured him. "I'm sure you'll be having too much fun dancing to be embarrassed."

"Doubt it."

* * *

A few minutes later, they had arrived at the warehouse, muffled music and colorful lights eminating from inside. Everyone climbed out of the Jeep and went in.

The warehouse was teeming with teenagers dancing and waving glow sticks around. Sour Cream was perched on the indoor balcony, standing at his homemade DJ table and playing upbeat chiptune music which the rave-goers were dancing to.

"Hey, Sour Cream!" Jenny called as she waved to him.

He spotted her and the rest of the group standing in the crowd of partying teens. "Oh, hey! You guys made it!"

"Of course, man," Buck said. "Wouldn't miss a Sour Cream rave for the universe."

"Well what are we still standin' around for?" Jenny asked. "Let's dance!"

"Yeah!" Steven cheered.

Sour Cream played a different song, an energetic house piece which was more lively than the previous song. Jenny, Buck, and Steven started dancing to the beat. Steven lost himself in the rhythm, letting his body go wild. He waved his arms and gyrated his torso, even doing an occasional spin. He was so focused on dancing that he didn't even notice that everyone was watching him.

"Woo! Kick it, Steven!" Jenny cheered at him.

"Pshh, that's nothing!" Lars said. "Check _this_ out!" And he proceeded to dance rather awkwardly before slipping and falling on his butt.

"Are you okay, Lars?" Steven asked him.

"I'm fine," Lars said, his face red with embarrassment. "I, uh... meant to do that."

"It didn't seem like you meant it."

"Well, I did!" the Filipino snapped, louder than he intended. He looked up at the Cool Kids, who were staring down at him with odd looks on their faces, that he could only assume were looks of judgement.

Lars stood to his feet with a frustrated sigh. "I'm going outside." And with that, he turned and walked out the door.

"Lars, wait!" Steven ran after him.

* * *

Lars was standing outside the warehouse, leaning against the wall near the door. The door creaked open, and out came Steven, who asked "Lars, are you sure you're okay?"

"Ugh, yes! I'm _fine_, okay?! Why don't you go back inside and keep dancing with the Cool Kids? They seem to like you better anyway."

"Really?"

Lars groaned in frustration. "Of _course_ they like you better than me! You're confident, cheerful, and good at dancing!" He looked away with a sigh. "And I'm not."

"C'mon, Lars. I'm sure they like you just fine." Steven put a hand on Lars' arm, which the older boy drew away. "Even if you are a bit of a jerk sometimes."

Lars just scoffed.

Suddenly, the two boys heard frightened screams and animalistic growling from inside.

"What the hell is that?!" Lars asked.

"It's probably a Rough Gem," Steven said. "Stay out here." And the half-Gem boy went back inside, leaving the door open behind him.

* * *

Inside, he saw a large, spider-like Rough Gem terrorizing the rave-goers as it skittered all around the warehouse. The Rough Gem's coloration was mostly made up of different shades of blue, with its four legs being more of a greenish-teal color. The Crystal Gems ran over brandishing their weapons. "Steven!" Pearl said. "You need to get out of here!"

"Guys!"

"We tracked that Rough Azurite down just outside Beach City," Ruby said.

"It had somehow made its way in the warehouse without being noticed," Sapphire said.

"Don't worry, I can help!"

"Steven, we've talked about this!" Pearl said.

"No, I mean, you guys can fight the Rough Azurite, while I get everyone else out of here."

"Well, I suppose that would be alright."

"Okay, Gems, let's do this!" Ruby commanded, and the Gems all ran to the Rough Azurite to fight it.

Steven went back outside. "C'mon, Lars, you gotta help me get everyone out of the warehouse."

"Are you nuts?!" Lars exclaimed. "I'm not going back in with that thing in there!"

"It's okay! The Gems are taking care of it as we speak. Now, come on." Steven grabbed him by the arm and pulled him inside. They spotted the rave-goers huddled against the back wall, watching as the Crystal Gems took care of the blue beast that terrorized the warehouse. They also spotted a large hole in the adjacent wall, which Steven figured was how the Rough Gem got in in the first place.

Steven and Lars ran over to the group of teens. "Alright! Everybody follow us!" Lars said.

"And make sure to watch your step!" Steven said. And the two boys led the way out of the warehouse through the hole. As soon as everyone made it out safely, Steven asked "So is everyone okay? Nobody got bitten or anything?"

Everyone reassured their wellness. "I'm good!" "I'm okay!" "I'm fine!"

"Okay, good."

"So, uh, Steven, thanks for saving everybody. Sorry I was always such a jerk to you."

"What are you talking about, Lars? You had a hand in helping everyone too."

"Yeah. I guess I did, huh?"

"Yeah, man," Buck said. "That was pretty cool."

"You guys think I'm cool?! I-I mean, really?"

"Sure," Jenny said. "I mean, you're kinda jittery sometimes, but all in all, you're a pretty good guy."

"Thanks! So, are we friends now, or..."

"Totally," Sour Cream said.

"Of course!" Jenny said.

"Yep," Buck said.

Lars' voiced lowered to a whisper. "_Awesome!_" He then cleared his throat and said at a normal volume, "I mean, cool. That's cool, we're cool."

"We sure are!" Steven piped up. "High five!" And he raised his hand in the air, waiting for the Filipino teen to respond to his offer.

Lars looked at the younger boy's hand rather hesitantly before deciding to slap it. "Alright."


	14. Magical Destiny Quest

**Dragon Titan 1: I'm glad you liked it.**

**So, apologies if this and the last chapter are a bit short compared to the last few. I've been kept busy by other stuff that's been going on.**

"Thunder roared all throughout the quiet house, which was completely dark, only illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning that appeared outside Melissa's bedroom window. The thunder outside was drowned out by the deafening pounding of her own heartbeat, which grew ever louder as-"

Connie and Steven's reading was interrupted by the sound of the Crystal Gems warping back to the Temple.

"The Gems are back!" Steven announced unnecessarily. The two children walked up to the Warp Pad to greet the Gems.

"Hello, Steven," Sapphire said, looking at the boy before turning her gaze to Connie. "Hello, Connie."

"Oh, Connie!" Pearl exclaimed in surprise. "What brings you here?"

"Steven and I were just reading the first chapter of The Outer Connection," she answered.

"It's really good!" Steven said excitedly. "It's about this girl who learns that she can talk to ghosts, and there's this whole underground society of vampires and ghouls and stuff, and her dad gets kidnapped by the leader of the vampires and she has to team up with the ghost haunting their attic to save him!"

"The author is gonna be at the library doing book signings, and I wanted to bring Steven with me so we could both meet her."

"Cool," Amethyst said. "We were just gonna go fight a giant Rough Malachite that's attacking a nearby island."

"That sounds really cool!" Connie exclaimed in excitement. "But we really should get going right now if we wanna make it to the library on time." And Steven and Connie made their way out the front door.

"Okay!" Ruby called after them as the Gems started warping away again. "We'll see you kids later, and we'll make sure to bring back some Gem parts to show you!"

* * *

Steven and Connie were walking to Connie's bike, which was parked near the slope that connected Steven's front porch to the beach below the Temple. Connie kicked in the kickstand and walked the bike out towards town.

"Okay, if we leave right now, we'll be able to get there before the line gets too long." Connie turned her head to look at Steven. "How good are you with standing on the back spokes?"

"Actually, I was thinking we could ride to the library in style." Steven cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted "Lion! Where are you?! Come on out, wherever you are!" The two kids looked around, no Lion in sight. "He doesn't always come when he's called."

Just then, Lion came running toward them at top speed, stopping and sitting down right at their feet.

"Hey, boy!" Steven scratched Lion by the ears. He then turned to Connie. "You can pet him if you want."

"Are you sure he'll let me?"

"Sure! He lets me pet him all the time."

"I don't know, Steven."

Lion yawned and lay down on his stomach, looking up at the girl expectantly. Connie slowly reached out her hand and pet the pink feline's soft, furry head.

"He's really soft," she said with a smile.

"Hey, Lion, do you wanna take us to the library?" Steven asked him as he climbed onto his back.

Connie climbed on and sat behind Steven. "I've never ridden a lion before."

"I've ridden on Lion lots of times, and I can tell you it's a lot of fun." Steven patted a hand on Lion's side. "Come on, Lion, let's go." At that command, Lion stood up, stretched a bit, and started running.

Steven and Connie quickly became frightened as they saw which direction their mount was running towards. "Lion, no! The library's not in the ocean! Turn around!" Steven tugged at Lion's locks in an effort to get him to turn, but it was no use. They would soon be going for an unwanted swim. Or that's what the children had thought, until they realized that there was no splash. Steven looked down to see that Lion was actually running on top of the water. It was like the last time Steven visited Pearl's room. Only the water in there was solidified by Gem magic, and the ocean wasn't, so what was going on?

"Your lion can run on water?!" Connie asked, apparently as surprised as he was.

"Apparently!" Steven said.

Then, Lion roared loudly, firing a shockwave from his mouth that turned into a round portal, which he jumped into with the kids still on his back.

* * *

Suddenly, they were flying through a bright, blue and white void full of stars.

"So not only can you run on water, but you can fire magic portals out of your mouth too?!" Steven asked his pet. "What other magical stuff can you do that I don't know about?!"

They were soon approaching another portal, which led them to somewhere they've never been. A splash was heard as Lion landed on his feet and skidded forward. Wherever they were, it looked like they were inside a cave; large stalagmites jutted out of the floor, which was covered in water, and sharp-looking stalactites hung from the ceiling. In the center of the floor was a large, round, stone platform. Lion walked up the small flight of steps that led to it, then sat down on his haunches.

"What is this place?" Steven wondered out loud as he and Connie climbed off Lion's back.

"Could this be one of those Gem places you and the Gems always tell me about?" Connie asked him.

"Probably."

"It's so cool. Sometimes I wish I had your life."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you get to go on all these exciting missions and look for mysterious magical artifacts with the Crystal Gems, and meanwhile, the most exciting thing in _my_ life is tennis." She pretended to swing a tennis racket. "Forehand! Backhand! Overhead Death Strike!"

Steven laughed in response. "Tennis sounds pretty exciting to me!"

Connie gave a chuckle of her own. "I actually made that last one up."

Just then, the platform they were standing on glowed light pink, and up from the center rose a hand-shaped pedestal. The children walked over to inspect it, and saw that there was a symbol similar to the rose design on Steven's shield on the center of the "palm".

Steven turned to Lion. "Lion, normally I'm all about Gem stuff like this, but why exactly did you bring us here?"

"What if he brought us here for a reason?" Connie suggested. "Like this is some kind of mystical Gem training thing to help you on a magical destiny quest of some kind?"

"You think so?"

"Maybe. How about you try putting your hand on the pedestal and see what happens?"

"Okay." Steven did as was suggested, and the pedestal and the platform both glowed bright pink.

"So that happens."

Steven tried to pull his hand off the pedestal, only to find that it was stuck on. "Huh?" Steven pulled again. "I-I think I'm stuck! Help me, Connie!"

Connie pulled on Steven's arm in an attempt to help free his hand from the pedestal, but it was no use. "I guess we'll just have to chop your hand off and call it a day."

"What?!"

Just then, a white, cylindrical case emerged from the surface of the platform, opening up to reveal some axes that were floating vertically side-by-side.

"Hey, look! Axes!"

"No! No axes!"

Then the case closed and sunk back in the ground.

"I guess this thing is voice-activated."

"Say another command!"

"Okay." Steven cleared his throat into his free hand. "Let me see everything this place has." At that command, more white cylinders rose around them, opening up and exposing various weapons and artifacts.

"Whoa! Look at all this cool stuff!" Connie began walking around the platform to get a closer look at everything she can. "Here's some swords! And some old suits of armor! And a statue with spikey chain balls! And a... giant penny?"

"I'll bet it's worth way more than a regular penny," Steven said. "I mean, that would just make _cents_." He and Connie laughed at his joke.

"Okay, this was great, but we really should get going to the library if we wanna meet Lauren Zeitgeist and get my book signed. I'm probably not supposed to be here in the first place anyway."

"I want you here," Steven said. "Well, not here here. Lion probably wants me here, but I want you with me. And I want us to hang out more often when we both have the time; I can go over and watch you play tennis, and you can come over to my place and watch me and the Gems deal with my magical destiny training."

Suddenly, the platform and the pedestal both lost their pink glow, and Steven stumbled backwards and fell on his butt as the pedestal sunk back into the platform, along with most of the artifacts that had been brought to view. Stone triangles about three feet high rose from the platform in a spiral pattern. A large, cylindrical object with three cannons on its bottom, which was the only artifact to not disappear, started floating, its two "eyes" and the crystal shards on its top glowing a bright white.

"Um, Steven..." Connie said, her voice quivering a little. "Do you think we should be scared?"

"Maybe. I don't know." Steven looked at Lion, who stood to his feet while staring at the artifact. "Lion doesn't seem scared of it, but then again, he is a magical pink lion, so there's probably not much that can-" He was interrupted when the artifact made an odd crackling noise as its "eyes" and shards glowed bright yellow, a ball of pure electricity firing from one of its cannons directly at the group and exploding upon impact with the ground.

The two children screamed as the three of them ran and hid behind two of the stone triangles, Lion following Steven. "Okay, I think we _should_ be scared."

The artifact slowly floated forwards as it continued shooting from each of its cannons in a pattern, its shards and "eyes" glowing a different color depending on the ammo it fired; electricity - yellow, ice magic - light blue, fire - red.

"What do we do, Steven?!" Connie cried.

"I don't know!" The half-Gem boy turned his attention to Lion. "Lion, we need you to get us out of here! Please! You're our only hope!"

Lion stood up and backed up a few inches from Steven.

"Lion?"

Lion bowed, with his his head down and one paw out in front of him, and his mane started glowing. Slowly emerging from the glowing mass of fur was the magenta hilt of a sword. Before he could really think about his actions, Steven grabbed the hilt and pulled out a large sword with a pale pink blade.

"You had a _sword_ in your mane this whole time?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Steven!"

"Connie!"

The artifact started glowing light blue, and fired a ball of ice magic from another of its cannons.

"Don't worry! I'm coming!" Steven slipped on the ice from the blast and fell over on his stomach. He pushed himself to his feet and continued running to his human friend. "Lion gave me this sword." He showed her the sword he grabbed from the big cat's mane. "I think he wants me to try and fight that thing."

"Can you?"

"Pearl's been teaching me how to swordfight lately. We haven't gone over much yet, but I have a good grasp on the basics."

The artifact floated closer to them, preparing to shoot a fireball at them.

"Well you'd better put what you've learned so far to good use, because whatever that thing is is coming closer!"

"Right!" Steven held the sword out in front of him, nearly dropping it as his hands started slipping. "Ah, I've never used a sword this big before!"

"I'll help you!" Connie stood behind Steven and put her hands on the sword's handle. The fireball that was generating in the artifact's cannon shot out at the children. "Overhead..." The children worked together to lift the sword's blade into the air, the fireball colliding with it, but not dissipating. "Death Strike!" The children worked together to swing the sword down, launching the fireball back at the artifact. The fireball flew into one of the artifact's cannons, and the artifact exploded in a spectacular cloud of dust, fire, smoke, and electricity. Steven and Connie stood awestruck at the sight.

"Just like tennis practice..." Connie whispered. "Except it isn't at all like tennis practice."

Lion walked over to them and lay at their feet with a yawn. Steven put the sword back in Lion's mane, and he and Connie climbed onto the feline's back. "Hey, Lion," the boy said. "do you wanna take us to the library now?" Steven patted his side, and Lion stood up, stretched, and roared up another portal to jump through.

* * *

They jumped from the portal to the front of Beach City's library. The sky was noticably a bit darker than before they headed off, but that didn't matter at the moment.

"About time you decide to take us to the library," Steven remarked as he gave his pet a hug. "You're a handful, Lion, but I still love you." And he gave him a kiss on the nose.

"Come on," Connie pulled Steven by the hand into the library. "We gotta get in there quickly before Lauren Zeitgeist leaves."

When they went inside, they saw that there was barely anyone around. Connie walked up to the front desk. "Excuse me. Is Lauren Zeitgeist still here?"

"No, I'm afraid not," the librarian said. "She just left 30 minutes ago. But if you want, there are plenty of her books for you to check out in the young adult section."

Connie sighed in disappointment. "Come on, Steven, let's go." And the two children walked out of the library.

* * *

As they were riding away on Lion, Steven said "I'm sorry. If I hadn't insisted we ride Lion to the library and gotten you caught up in my magical destiny stuff, then we might've gotten there on time for the book signing. I don't know why you wanna hang out with me."

"I don't know why you wanna hang out with _me!_" Connie said. "I'm just so... _uninteresting_ compared to you! You're a half-alien half-human with magical powers, who lives with four other magical aliens who protect the planet from destruction on a near-daily basis, and I'm just plain old Connie."

"You're not plain, you're awesome!"

"Really?"

"Yes, really! You've introduced me to what's probably the coolest book series ever, and even though I've never seen you play, I bet you're really great when it comes to tennis. And if I remember clearly, you did help me beat that robot shooty thing back at that cave Lion took us to."

Connie smiled and blushed. "Yeah. I guess I did, didn't I?"

"You sure did! That was the best Overhead Death Strike I ever saw!"

Connie giggled. "Well, thanks. That was pretty great, huh?"

Lion lay down as they reached the Temple. The two children climbed off his back, and Connie went over to her bike.

"Well, good night, Steven," she said as she walked her bike out to more stable ground. "I really should be getting home now."

"Okay. Bye, Connie."

"Bye!" And with that, Connie rode away from the beach.

"Wait until the Gems hear about what happened today." Steven went in his beach house and closed the door behind him.

Lion lifted his head up and looked at the moon as it perched over the ocean, a big, white semi-circle in the night sky. He then rested his head on his front paws, and went to sleep.


	15. I'm Still Here

**Dragon Titan 1: I'm glad you liked it and I hope you stay pretty good too.**

"So Lion took you and Connie to a cave full of ancient artifacts, one of the artifacts came to life and attacked you, and Lion summoned a sword from his mane for you to defeat it with?"

"Yeah! You guys seriously should've seen it! The explosion was awesome!"

Pearl stepped onto the Warp Pad with the other Crystal Gems. "That's a... very interesting story, Steven, but right now, I want to focus on retrieving some weapons littering the strawberry field."

"Can Lion come too?"

The Gems watched as Lion tried to catch a fly that was buzzing around the beach house.

"Maybe when you've trained him better, you can take him on missions. Now let's go."

Steven ran over to join them. "I wanna try warping us over there!"

"Of course! It's actually quite simple! All you have to do is think about the place you want to warp to, and you're there."

Steven closed his eyes and visualized the strawberry field, with the wild strawberry plants it was named for growing as far as the eye could see, in his head. He could feel the Warp Pad humming to life under his feet, and then felt his body lifting off the ground as the Warp Pad made its signature _ping_ sound.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had successfully warped himself and the Gems to their destination.

"I did it!" Steven cheered. "I'm the Warp Master!"

"Nicely done, Steven," Sapphire said.

"Uuugh, Steven..." Amethyst moaned, clutching her stomach. "I think you warped us there too fast. I feel kinda sick..." Then she unzipped her fanny pack and took out a can of silly string, spraying Steven while going "Bleeeaaaagh!"

"That's enough, Amethyst!" Pearl reprimanded as she snatched the can from her.

Amethyst crossed her arms. "Aw, you're no fun."

"Come on, Gems," Ruby said as she stepped off the Warp Pad. "We've got weapons to grab."

The Crystal Gems all walked around the strawberry field and began picking up the various weapons that were scattered all over.

"Is it me, or does this place look a lot weapon-ier than the last time we came here?" Steven asked.

"This place was actually the site of the Great Gem War between the Earth and Gemworld," Pearl said. "Every weapon here was left behind by a Gem who fought in the war 3,000 years ago before this entire field was overgrown with wild strawberries. I feel rather bad about disturbing historical grounds, but we all agreed that it wouldn't do any good to just leave everything lying around."

"Hey, guys!" Amethyst called. "Check this out!"

Steven and Pearl ran over to see Amethyst grinning broadly while holding up a large axe that was twice as tall as her.

"I think I just hit the jackpot!"

"I believe that axe may have been used by a higher-ranked Quartz soldier," Sapphire observed.

"Whatever," Amethyst said. "I'm definitely gonna be keeping this." She swung the axe over her shoulder, nearly hitting Pearl in the process. "If anyone needs me, I'll be looking for more stuff to add to my weapon pile."

"Amethyst, be careful with that thing!"

"Did Mom fight in the war?" Steven asked.

"She sure did!" Pearl jabbed a thumb at herself. "And I personally fought by her side!"

Steven gasped in awe. "Really?"

"That's right! While I was a tad young at the time, she trusted me to fight alongside her in the front lines. She trusted me with _everything._"

"_Everything?_"

"_Everything._ I was her most trusted confidant. She's shown me things that nobody else knows about." Pearl leaned down to whisper in Steven's ear. "Not Amethyst, not Ruby, not even Sapphire."

"Whoa..."

"Hey, you two!" Ruby called to them as she held some weapons in her arms. "Are you gonna come help with this or not?"

"Coming, Ruby!" Steven ran over to her before tripping over something.

Pearl helped him to his feet. "Are you alright, Steven?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The boy dusted himself off before bending down and picking up what he tripped over to examine it. It was a long, magenta object that had a rose design on it like his shield. "What's this?"

Pearl's eyes lit up as they set on it. "It's the scabbard for your mother's sword!" She grabbed it and cradled it fondly in her arms with a long, dreamy sigh. "It's been so long..." She then blushed in embarrassment as she met eyes with Steven again. "Um, I mean... since the war, that is."

"Man, the Great Gem War was pretty nuts, wasn't it?" Amethyst asked, now holding more weapons than someone her size could feasibly carry. "I wish I could've gotten to fight in it!"

"No, you really don't, Amethyst," Ruby said sternly. "There were a lot of Gems on both sides who died."

"But we won!" Pearl added as she took some weapons from Ruby to lighten her load. "Our fates were uncertain, but Rose bravely led us to victory, and the Earth was safe from being colonized!"

"I think we've collected more than enough weapons for the time being," Sapphire said. "Let's head home and get everything put away."

Everyone started walking back to the Warp Pad.

"Hey, Pearl?"

"Yes, Steven?"

"What was Mom like?"

"Oh, Steven, she was courageous and strong, but also very kind and selfless. She was just..." Pearl let out another longing sigh. "_wonderful._"

They stepped onto the Warp Pad and warped back to the Temple.

* * *

"Man, this is great!" Amethyst said after they warped back home. "Look at all the weapons I got!" She stepped off the Warp Pad and walked towards the Temple Door.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Sapphire asked her.

"Nah, I got it." And the purple Gem dropped the weapons on the ground, creating a loud clanging sound. She then pulled down the neckline of her sweater and opened the Door to her room.

"That's quite a lot of weapons you grabbed," Ruby pointed out as she picked some of them up. "How about Sapphire and I help you put them away anyway?"

"Won't hurt my feelings."

As Ruby and Sapphire proceeded to help her, Pearl stared at the painting of Rose Diamond that hung over the doorway of the beach house. With her warm pink skin, and her light pink curls that were like a crown on the head of the most beautiful queen, and her pale pink dress that had a star-shaped hole which exposed the brilliant pink gemstone in her abdomen. She looked so beautiful in that portrait, like she did before she left this world to bring Steven into it. Sometimes, Pearl thought that he looked so much like her...

"Is something wrong, Pearl?" Steven asked her, taking her out of her thoughts.

"Oh! It's nothing, Steven. I was just... looking at the portrait of your mother."

"Do you ever miss her?"

"There's not a day that goes by where I don't." Pearl looked down at Rose's scabbard before handing it to Rose's son. "Here, Steven. I think you should hold onto this."

"Thanks, Pearl. You said this was for Mom's sword, right?"

"That's right. There was nothing else that could fit so perfectly inside."

"So, where is it?"

Pearl crouched down to whisper in Steven's ear again. "There's a place far away from here that belonged to Rose Diamond which she kept secret from everyone. Aside from me, of course. But since you have her gem, it's now yours, and I can show it to you. Let's warp there real quick while the rest of the Gems are still occupied."

"Okay." And so Steven and Pearl warped away.

* * *

Steven saw that they had warped to a large canyon. "So, where are we going?"

"We'll be climbing up that steep cliff to enter the cave at the top." Pearl pointed to a tall cliff that had a large whole near the top. "It's only about 3 miles away from the Warp Pad."

"Seems like a pretty long climb," Steven pointed out uneasily.

"Don't worry, I can carry you." Pearl kneeled down to let Steven climb on her back, and the two set off.

"So, why did Mom keep so many secrets?" Steven asked.

"She had to!" Pearl answered. "All great leaders are supposed to know what sorts of things should be kept from those they try to protect. But not me! For the longest time, I was her sole confidant. For anything she could share with no one else, I was the one who would listen to the words she couldn't speak, the one who would be shown the things she couldn't show." As soon as they reached the the base of the cliff, Pearl started climbing up the wall. "Hold on tight." After a few long minutes of Steven asking if they were there yet, they had finally reached the cave, and climbed in.

Steven climbed off of Pearl's back and started walking behind her as she walked towards a large, circular platform sitting in the middle of the water-logged cave. "Here it is! Rose Diamond's secret armory!"

"Whoa... This is the place I was telling you guys about!" Steven ran up the steps onto the platform.

"What?" Pearl shook her head. "Surely, you must be thinking of some other cave full of artifacts. I was the only other Crystal Gem to know about this place."

"Not since Lion took me and Connie here!"

The platform then started glowing pink as the hand-shaped pedestal rose from its center. Steven put a hand on it.

"There's lots of great stuff here that we saw." Steven cleared his throat. "Let me see everything this place has!" Just then, all of the artifacts in the armory rose up from the platform.

Pearl started walking around the platform, dumbstruck as she ogled the various artifacts. "What the-? I- How- The Axes of Ages? The Armor of the Fallen? How did you access all of this?"

"It was really easy! I just put my hand on here and said 'Let me see everything this place has.'"

"But I don't see her sword here! Rose's sword should be in this armory, but it just _isn't!_"

"What does Mom's sword look like?"

Pearl sighed and projected a hologram of the sword. "It's a large, straight saber with a pink blade and a magenta handle, with vines etched in the guard that connect to a rose-shaped pommel."

"Oh, I know that sword! That's the sword Lion gave me!"

Pearl's hologram morphed into a male lion with Rose's sword in his mouth. "What?"

* * *

Lion sat on the beach house floor grooming himself. "Hey, Lion," Steven said. "Do you wanna show me the sword in your mane?"

Lion just yawned and rest his head on his front paws.

"Aw, c'mon," Steven put his hands on the feline's cheeks. "Pwetty pwease with catnip on top?"

Lion stood to his feet and bowed, his mane glowing and Rose's sword rising from it. Steven grabbed the sword by the handle and pulled it out. "Here it is!"

Pearl took the sword from Steven and put it in its scabbard. "But... how? Why? What was it doing in _there?_"

"I dunno," Steven said with a shrug. "You could try asking him, but I don't think he'll answer."

"Interesting," Sapphire mused. "I believe Lion might have some sort of connection to Rose Diamond."

"Of course!" Amethyst said. "_That's_ why he's pink!"

"I mean, it is pretty obvious," Ruby said.

"No!" Pearl exclaimed, now growing angry. "Rose Diamond did _not_ have a lion!"

"Why not?" Amethyst asked.

"Because if she _did_ have a lion or any other animal companion, then _I_ would have known about it!"

"There were many things that Rose Diamond kept secret from everyone," Sapphire said. "Even us."

"But she would _never_ keep anything from _me!_" Pearl insisted. "She would always tell me everything!"

"Why do you have to make this about you, huh?!" Amethyst snapped. "You think you're the only one who misses her?! News flash, Pearl! You _aren't!_"

"I don't want to hear it!" Pearl snapped back, starting to tear up. "None of you knew her like I did! What _we_ had was special! _None_ of you could understand how I felt about her!"

"Look, Pearl," Ruby spoke up, calmly but sternly. "We get that you were closer to Rose than the rest of us were, but don't you think you're acting just a _bit_ irrational?"

"I am completely within my rights to act irrational!" Pearl gestured to Lion, who was sitting on his haunches watching everything transpire. "Why would Rose keep _this_ from me when she always shared everything else with me?!"

"Maybe she just wanted to protect you," Steven offered. "Like she protected everyone else."

"How would _you_ know?! You've never even _met_ her!" Pearl slammed her fist into the wall, causing the painting of Rose Diamond to fall before Sapphire ran over and caught it. Pearl looked at each of the Crystal Gems, her tears running freely down her face. She then ran onto the Warp Pad and warped away.

"Fine, go cry about it!" Amethyst said.

"Where did she go?" Steven asked the Gems. "Is she gonna be okay?"

"Who cares?" Amethyst walked to the fridge. "I'm just glad she's out of here."

Ruby just stood there shaking her head with her arms crossed over her chest as Sapphire put a hand on her shoulder.

"There is a chance that she's sitting under her favorite tree," Sapphire told him. "She tends to go there when she's upset."

"Well, I'm gonna go see if she's there." Steven turned to Lion. "Come on, Lion."

Lion stood to his feet and bowed for Steven to climb on his back, and roared up a portal before jumping into it.

"Good luck, Steven."

* * *

Meanwhile, Pearl was indeed sitting underneath her favorite cherry blossom tree and holding the sword close to her. "How could she keep anything from me?" she quietly asked herself through her tears.

Just then, a portal popped up and Lion jumped out with Steven on his back. "Pearl!"

"Go away! I don't want to see anyone right now!"

"I just wanna talk!"

Pearl started running off. "I just want to be alone right now, Steven!"

"Don't worry!" Steven said as he climbed down from Lion and walked over to the upset Gem. "The two of us can talk somewhere nice and private."

"Just leave me alone!" Pearl snapped. "What about that lion made you feel that you couldn't trust anyone to know about it?! Not even _me?!_" Steven backed away with tears in his eyes. Pearl immediately regretted her actions. "Steven, I'm so sorry, I just-"

"Pearl... I know you're upset, but you have to tell me what's wrong."

Pearl gave a sigh as she walked back towards the tree. "Sometimes, you remind me so much of her..." Pearl kneeled in front of the tree and ran her fingers through the grass. "Do you have any of her memories? About this place? About the strawberry field? About all of the time we spent together?" Pearl wiped a tear from one of her eyes. "We talked here, those 3,000 years ago, when your mother decided to fight back against Gemworld..."

Pearl stood to her feet, turned 180 degrees, and projected a hologram of Rose Diamond.

"Pearl," she said, the hologram matching her lip movements.

"Yes, Rose?"

"I don't care what the other Diamonds say. I'm going to fight for this planet, if it's the last thing I ever do. You don't have to join me if you don't want to."

"But I do!"

"I thought you would, but please understand, that if we lose, you'll be killed, and I'll have to watch the Earth get destroyed. And if we win, we can never go home again."

"Why would I ever want to go home when you're here?"

The hologram Rose Diamond chuckled as she held out her hand. "I love you, my wonderful Pearl..."

"I love you too..." Pearl took her hand and wrapped her arms around the hologram's legs. The hologram vanished soon after, and Pearl hugged herself. "Everything I had ever done, I did it for her. She's gone now, and yet, I'm still here. What am I supposed to do now?"

Steven, not knowing what to say, just walked up to the tall, thin Gem and hugged her waist. "Well, if it helps, you still have all of us."

Pearl started tearing up again at that, and kneeled down to hug Steven back as she let her tears flow freely. "Oh, Steven..."

After what felt like an eternity of crying and hugging, the two of them rode back to the temple on Lion's back, Pearl recounting various stories about the time she spent with Rose all the while.


	16. Rose's Spring

**Dragon Titan 1: All in the name of protecting the ones you love.**

**foxchick1: As am I.**

**coronadomontes: thanks**

"Can't catch me!~"

Amethyst and Steven were running around on the beach in a game of tag. Steven, who was currently "it", was trying and failing to catch up to Amethyst, who was curled in a ball and rolling at high speeds.

"Amethyst, slow down!" Steven propped a hand against the side of the cliff, panting hard to catch his breath. "How am I supposed to tag you when you're going so fast?"

Amethyst just continued rolling. "Well, I mean, if you wanna win, you're not supposed to let it tag you, right?"

Steven continued running after her. "Tag isn't about winning. It's about having fun."

"Winning _is_ fun! And I'm havin' a blast right now!" Amethyst took a sharp turn to the left.

"Amethyst, watch out, you're gonna hit the-!" _CRACK!_

Amethyst, not having looked where she was going, slammed face-forward into the side of the cliff. She stumbled backwards holding her head. "Ah, I'm okay!"

"Are you sure?" Steven walked over to her to get a closer look at her. "You don't have any cracks or anything?"

"I'm fine. I smash into walls and rocks and stuff all the time."

Just then, the rest of the Gems came out onto the beach. "What's going on out here?" Ruby asked.

"We were playing tag and then Amethyst slammed really hard into the cliff," Steven explained.

"Did not!" Amethyst retorted.

Pearl clutched her stone and sighed. "Amethyst, we've talked about you being more careful! We all know you have a habit of accidentally damaging yourself."

"I'm fine this time, aren't I?"

"Just because you _seem_ fine from what can be seen right now doesn't mean that you_ are_ fine." Sapphire said. "Come inside so that we can get a better look at you."

Amethyst crossed her arms over her chest. "Do you guys _have_ to check out my whole body? It's embarrassing."

Ruby summoned her gauntlet. "Don't make me have to chase you, Amethyst."

"Alright, fine!"

* * *

Amethyst stood in Pearl's room in nothing but her underclothes, cheeks flushing a darker shade of purple as the three other Gems examined her body for any cracks or fissures.

"Are you almost done?" the purple Gem asked impatiently.

Ruby was inspecting Amethyst's right leg. "Well, there doesn't look to be anything we should worry about down here."

"Cool. I already told you guys, I'm _fine._"

"We still need to be absolutely thorough," Pearl said. "Any small crack can be exacerbated if you're not careful." It was then that the tall Gem noticed some small cracks around Amethyst's gemstone, the gem itself having a large, lightning-shaped crack in its hexagonal face. She let out a gasp. "Amethyst! Your gemstone is cracked."

"So? I feel fine. It's not like it's the end of the world or nothin'."

"A cracked gem is no laughing matter, Amethyst," Ruby said. "Cracking your gem messes up your state of mind and makes you see and feel things that aren't really there. Trust me, I know this from experience."

"We'll need to take a trip to Rose's healing spring so we can heal it," Sapphire said. "We don't have a second to lose before the effects kick in."

"Can I at least put my clothes back on first?"

"You may."

* * *

Meanwhile, Steven was standing right outside the Temple Door, putting an ear up to it to hear the Gems' dialogue. He jumped backwards as the Door opened to reveal the Gems on the other side. "I wasn't eavesdropping!" he lied.

Sapphire chose to ignore this little white lie of his and told him "Steven... we have some good news and some bad news in regards to Amethyst's condition."

"Okay, what's the good news?"

"The good news is that she's mostly unscathed aside from a few small cracks in the chest area."

"Oh, okay. Those should heal up fine, right?"

"The bad news is that she's got a crack on her gemstone," Ruby said.

Amethyst pulled down the neckline of her sweater to show him. "Pretty gnarly, huh?"

"Oh no! It can be fixed, right? Right?"

"It can, with the water from Rose Diamond's healing spring," Sapphire answered.

"Mom had a healing spring?"

"Well, before she... left us, she would heal us using her lacrimal essence whenever we got badly injured," Pearl said.

"What's lacrimal essence?"

"Tears," Ruby answered.

"Your mother Rose felt real compassion for those around her, and real pain when they got hurt." Sapphire put her hands on Steven's shoulders. "You have her gem now, Steven, therefore, the power to heal resides within you too. I know it."

"The power to heal... Amethyst, let me see your gem!"

"Fine." Amethyst pulled her neckline down again, and Steven leaned over to try and cry on it. He jabbed himself in the eye with his finger and let the resulting tear fall on the purple stone and run down into the crack. He stepped back to see if the crack was healed. No avail. It was still there, clear as day.

"It didn't work."

"Don't worry, Steven. You'll figure it out eventually."

"But we don't have time for that right now!" Ruby exclaimed. "We need to get to Rose's spring _yesterday_ before Amethyst's condition gets any worse."

"C'mon, you guys, relax. I'm not gonna get any _woah-ho_..."

* * *

Amethyst's mind suddenly became a blur as everything around her shifted and turned into food.

"Where'd all this food come from?"

"What?" Steven asked.

"There's food, like, _everywhere_, dude! Don't you see it?"

"No."

"It just got worse," Ruby lamented.

"Whatever. I call dibs on the Italian sub!" Amethyst ran over to the giant Italian sub where the couch used to be before Pearl grabbed her by the back of her sweater.

"No, Amethyst! We're going to Rose's spring and we're going to get your gem healed." And the Warp Pad activated under their feet.

* * *

Steven and the Gems had warped to a large canyon with a giant mass of thorny vines which wrapped around each other tightly. Steven looked around and saw no signs of a healing spring; there weren't any fountains or pools of water, only sharp, possibly deadly thorns. He noticed that the Gems were all staring at the mass of vines with varying degrees of worry etched in their faces.

"So, where's the spring?" he asked them.

"Oh, this isn't good," Pearl said, not answering his question. "This is not good at all."

"Just look at all those vines," Ruby said. Then she turned to Steven. "This is supposed to be the entrance to Rose's healing spring, but it's apparently blocked by these overgrown brambles."

"After centuries of neglect, they've become directionless, clinging things," Pearl sighed, hugging herself. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Right, Sapphire?"

Sapphire hummed in thought for a moment before replying "I suppose."

"_Only_ suppose?"

"What we need is to make a path through all that bramble!" Ruby piped up, summoning her gauntlet.

Suddenly, Amethyst ran forward, shouting "Spaghetti!"

"No! Amethyst, that's not spaghetti!" Steven tried to hold Amethyst back, but she was too strong for him.

"AH'M HUNGRAYYY!" The purple Gem bolted towards the mass of bramble, sinking her teeth into it, only to step back holding her mouth in pain. "Yeowtch! What is with this pasta?! Whatever. I've eaten less than al dente before." And she opened her mouth to bite down again before some of the vines came to life and started slowly creeping towards her.

"Amethyst, look out!" Steven ran out to push her out of the way, the boy sitting on top of her as she lay on her back.

"What are you doing, Steven?"

"Those spikey vines were coming straight towards you!"

Amethyst sat up and pushed him off of her. "Dude, I don't care how weird that spaghetti looks! I'm gonna eat it!" And she ran back to the bramble.

"Amethyst, no!"

Amethyst took a big bite out of the bramble and chewed. "Sure, it's a bit on the crunchy side, but it's really not that bad. Could use some parmesan though."

The vines inched towards the Gem ever so slowly before Pearl summoned her spear and sliced the vines before they could touch her. The taller Gem grabbed hold of Amethyst and pulled her far enough away so the vines couldn't grab her.

"What gives, Pearl?"

"Has that crack affected your common sense, Amethyst?! You should know better than to try and eat something covered in thorns, especially when it tries to grab you!"

"Lemme handle this." Ruby's gauntlet swelled, and flew off her fist as she punched forward with as much force as she could. There was a great flash of light as the gauntlet exploded, charred bits of bramble flying everywhere. When it died down, a clear path appeared for the Crystal Gems to take.

"There probably could have been an easier way to get in without firing your gauntlet into the bramble and potentially damaging Rose's most precious sanctuary, Ruby," Pearl sighed while bringing a hand to her face. "But I suppose that works too."

"You stick to your way of making a clear path and I'll stick to mine." Ruby stepped of the Warp Pad and into the newly-made tunnel. "Come on, everyone!"

The rest of the Gems made their way after her, Amethyst struggling to get out of Pearl's grasp. "Let go! I wanna grab some food!"

"No, Amethyst! I'm not letting you do anything that might exacerbate your crack."

"I'm_ fine__!_ How many times do I have to say it?!"

"You're not fine as long as your gemstone is still cracked!"

Amethyst then bit down on Pearl's arm, causing her to cry out in pain and release the purple Gem from her grip. She then grabbed some of the charred bramble bits before Pearl grabbed her again, telling her "I'm not letting you get away this time."

"It's cool, I got what I wanted." Amethyst took a bite out of one of the pieces of bramble she collected. "These pork rinds are_ crunchy._"

"Let's just keep going, alright?"

Soon enough, the Gems had arrived at a dimly-lit clearing in the great cocoon of brambles. In the middle of it sat a great, white basin which was surrounded by stone statues of a very tall woman in a flowing dress that reached her knees with a poofy mop of curls on her head. Steven knew exactly who they portrayed; it was Rose Diamond, his mother and the former leader of the Crystal Gems.

"Something's not right here," Ruby said as she put her hands on her hips and scanned her eyes around the spring.

"There's no water!" Pearl exclaimed. "The water of Rose's healing spring should be flowing from the various statues of her, but it's as dry as a bone! Alright, not to worry. We can figure out what's wrong." She turned to Sapphire. "Sapphire, do you have any clue why the water isn't running?"

"The waterway is most likely blocked by something."

"Then we just need to unblock it, and then everything will be right as rain!"

"Or magic healing tears!" Steven remarked. He looked around at the Rose Diamond statues. "Speaking of tears, I think seeing all these statues of Mom is making me emotional. I think this is it! Amethyst, let me see your gem!"

"Huh? Why?"

"So I can cry on it and heal your crack!"

"Oh, okay." Amethyst pulled down the neckline of her sweater, and Steven leaned in to try and cry on it. He tried to feel sad about how he never knew Rose Diamond, about how he might not be able to live up to whatever expectations the other Crystal Gems might have of him. He tried to cry.

But he couldn't.

"It's not working. Maybe if I actually knew my mom at some point, then this place might make me feel sad enough to cry."

"It's alright, Steven," Pearl assured him while putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll go and unplug the waterway while you stay right here and watch Amethyst."

"Okay."

And with that, the rest of the Gems went to fix whatever was wrong with the fountain.

"Hey. Do you know what sounds good right about now? A big bucket of onion rings drenched in chocolate sauce!"

"You're not making any sense, Amethyst."

"Sure I am! I'm saying we need some waffles right here right now!" Amethyst grabbed Steven by the shoulders and shook him. "You _loooooove_ waffles, don'tcha?!"

"I love a lot of things in this world, but what I'm worried about is how I'm supposed to heal you if I can't cry healing tears like Mom could. What if Sapphire was wrong? What if I never get real magic powers and I can't go on missions and stuff with you guys?"

"I understand, Steven." Amethyst put her hands on Steven's shoulders. "You just need a pick me up! C'mon! Last one to that big ice cream sundae is a lump of coal!" And she ran off towards a large, moss-covered boulder.

"Amethyst, wait!" Steven chased after her.

Amethyst kept running until she bumped right into the boulder, creating an uncomfortable clacking sound as her gemstone made contact with the rock. She fell on her back, dazed from the impact.

"Are you okay, Amethyst?" Steven ran over to her. "How's your gem?" He pulled down Amethyst's sweater to see that the crack had gotten bigger. "Oh no!"

* * *

Amethyst blinked as she saw a giant slice of pepperoni pizza staring down at her.

* * *

Steven noticed that Amethyst was staring at him while licking her lips. "Uh, Amethyst?"

"Pizza!" The damaged Gem jumped up at him before he ran away from her screaming.

"Amethyst, no! I'm not pizza!"

"Get in mah belleh!"

Amethyst chased Steven around for a little while before the brambles came to life again and tried to ensnare the two of them.

"Oh no! Run faster!"

Steven grabbed Amethyst's hand and ran as fast as he could away from the vines, only for another pair of vines to grab hold of them. The thorns scratched at Steven's skin, creating little, stinging lines of red from which they drew small trickles of blood. He struggled to break free from the vines' vice-like grip, though that only caused the vines to wrap around them tighter. It was then, Steven realized, that they were pulling them towards the wall. "Amethyst, how are you holding up?"

Steven look next to him and saw that Amethyst was lolled into unconsciousness. He was close enough to her that he could see that the crack in her gemstone got worse, little branches spreading out from it like frost. He could also see that her neck had little cracks in it as well.

"Oh no! Amethyst! I'm so sorry. I can't heal you. I don't have my mom's healing tears. I'd give anything in the world to see you all healed again." Tears began running down Steven's cheeks. "If I had my mom's healing tears, I'd make sure you're never this badly hurt again. I just wish I could do that for you... I wish I could be a magical healer... like Mom..."

Suddenly, Steven heard the sounds of water rushing. He opened his eyes and saw that the vines had disappeared, and in their place were soft, pink rose blossoms. He didn't really have time to admire their beauty as he soon started falling. With a splash, he fell into a deep pool of cool water. He swam upwards and gasped for air. He then looked over at the biggest statue of Rose Diamond and saw that streams of water were cascading down from its closed eyes. The area was much brighter now that all those thorny brambles had disappeared. Instead, hundreds of pink rose petals were fluttering down like snowflakes. Had his tears brought the water back to the spring somehow?

Amethyst rose up from the water, spitting out a stream. "Amethyst!" Steven swam over to her. "Is your gem healed?"

She pulled down the neckline of her sweater, showing that the crack had completely disappeared. "You can't even tell it was there in the first place."

"Alright, Amethyst!" Steven gave her a hug, tears of joy welling in his eyes.

"Hey, don't get too gushy with me now!" Amethyst laughed as she playfully dunked Steven's head in the water.

Just then, Pearl, Ruby, and Sapphire walked over to the edge of the spring to greet them.

"So, it looks like we got the spring working again," Pearl said.

Steven frowned at her in confusion. "I thought it was my crying that got the spring to work again."

"No, Steven. What made you think that?"

"Well, I mean, Sapphire said that the power to heal was in me like it was with Mom."

Ruby smirked as she crossed her arms. "Kiddo, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but it was us that unblocked the waterway and activated the spring."

"So, I don't have healing powers?"

"Steven, I said that the power to heal lies within you," Sapphire said. "I never said that you would be able to activate that power straight away."

"But..."

"I'm sure that you'll be able to activate your power some way or another. I've never been wrong before, have I?"

"Well, there was that time we were looking for the Wailing Stone in that labyrinth in the strawberry field."

"Aside from that? No, I don't think I have ever been wrong before."

Amethyst and Steven pulled themselves back up onto dry land. "Man, you guys remember when I hallucinated that everything was food?" Amethyst chuckled. "Fun times, I tell ya."

"Let's all go home, shall we?" Pearl suggested as the Crystal Gems walked back to the Warp Pad.

"You know what I'm in the mood for?" Amethyst asked as they stepped onto the Warp Pad. "Ice cream with pickles and hot sauce!"

Steven laughed. "That sounds gross!"

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it!" And they all warped back home.


	17. Why Can't Anything Go My Way?

**foxchick1: Thank you****!**

**Dragon**** Titan 1: Really lucky indeed. XD**

Steven was gathering some supplies for the camping trip that he and the Gems would be going on with Greg for the weekend. They had been planning on it all week, and Steven had really been looking forward to it.

"Let's see..." Steven took a look at his checklist and made sure he had everything. "Sleeping bag?" He glanced at the green, caterpillar-shaped sleeping bag that lay on his bed. "Check. Fishing pole?" Steven took a look at the fishing pole that leaned against the wall. "Check. Ingredients for s'mores?" He looked at a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, and a pack of full-size chocolate bars that were all sitting on the floor of his loft. "Check-a-rooney."

"Whatcha doing up there, kid?"

Steven looked down to see Ruby and the other Gems looking up at him from the beach house floor.

"Hi, guys! I'm just checking to see if I've got everything ready for our camping trip."

"Camping trip?" Pearl repeated.

"Yeah! The one we're going on this weekend with my dad! You guys didn't forget, did you?"

"Well, no, but-"

"You should probably start packing." Steven stuffed his sleeping bag in the lettuce pocket in his cheeseburger backpack and zipped it up. "Dad's gonna be coming soon and we all wanna be ready for what the wilderness has in store for us." He put his backpack on and climbed down the stairs.

"I'm sorry, Steven, but I'm afraid we can't join you," Sapphire said.

"Why not?" Steven asked with a frown.

"We have to go fight another giant Rough Gem that's guarding an ancient temple on the other side of the world," Amethyst answered apologetically.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Ruby said.

Steven slumped his shoulders. "Aw man! It feels like you guys go on these kinda missions every week."

"Sorry, dude," Amethyst apologized as the Gems climbed on the Warp Pad. "There's always next weekend, and you know I'll be looking forward to s'mores!"

"We'll be sure to bring back a couple of souvenirs for you, okay?" Ruby told him with a smile.

"Okay."

"Okay, Steven, goodbye now!" Pearl waved goodbye as they warped away to their destination.

Steven sighed as he climbed up the stairs back to his bedroom loft. Normally, he wasn't too upset when the Gems left on a mission that involved fighting a Rough Gem of some kind. He understood that those kind of missions were especially dangerous for him. What he didn't get was why they had to go on this sort of mission today. He just wanted to spend some quality time with them and his dad, roughing it in the woods, going on a nature hike, fishing in a creek, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs over the campfire. Telling ghost stories and singing campfire songs. Well, if the Gems couldn't go, at least he'll get to go with his dad. He grabbed the rest of his camping supplies and made his way out of the beach house.

* * *

Greg was at It's A Wash, washing cars for his clients as usual. Steven ran over to him, wearing his cheeseburger backpack and holding his fishing pole and s'mores ingredients. "Hi, Dad!" he greeted.

"Hey, Schtu-Ball! I see you're all ready for our camping trip, huh?"

"Yep! The Gems couldn't come along 'cause they have to go fight a giant Rough Gem that's guarding an ancient Gem temple. But that's okay! We can take plenty of pictures and tell them all about it when we get back!"

Greg rubbed the back of his neck. "About that, Steven, It's A Wash is gonna be really busy today. I mean, just look at all these cars waiting to be washed." Steven looked and saw a line of about nine vehicles. "And then after that I gotta go pick up my laundry from the laundromat, and then I promised I'd go bowling with Vidalia and Yellowtail tonight, and I can't exactly cancel on those two. Sorry, kiddo, but my schedule's packed."

"Aww, but we had plans."

Greg put a hand on his son's shoulder. "I know, buddy. Don't fret, we can go next weekend." And he went to continue with his work.

"But I wanted to go _this_ weekend," Steven sadly muttered to himself as he shuffled his feet back to his beach house.

* * *

Steven went inside, not bothering to close the door, took off his backpack, and slumped on the couch with a long sigh.

Lion, who had previously been napping, lifted up his head to look at him.

"Hey, Lion," Steven greeted flatly. "We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but the Gems are on a mission, and Dad had other plans, so I'm just staying here instead. I just wish they weren't so busy doing stuff like fighting Gem monsters and washing cars and going bowling, then maybe we could have the camping trip we were supposed to." Steven lay down and covered his eyes with his forearm. "Ugh, why can't anything go my way?" Suddenly, he felt his stomach grow warm in a familiar way that he couldn't quite place. He moved his forearm and sat up to take a look. He saw that his gemstone was glowing underneath his t-shirt. "My gem." He looked at the Temple Door and saw that the pink stone, the one on the top point of the gray, five-pointed star, was also glowing brightly. He jumped off the couch and ran over to take a closer look. The Door suddenly opened, revealing a vast expanse of pink. Steven looked over his shoulder at his pet. "Hold down the fort, Lion. I'm going in." And he took one step into the pink room, then another, and then a couple more before the Temple Door closed and disappeared behind him.

Steven hummed as he took a look around. The room seemed to go on forever, as if it were an entirely different dimension. "Did this used to be my mom's room?" he wondered out loud. "I gotta say it's not half bad. Though it could use some furniture. Like, maybe... a big comfy bed to lay on!"

Suddenly, a queen-size bed with a periwinkle comforter appeared in a puff of light pink smoke, eliciting an awed gasp from the half-Gem boy. He climbed onto the bed and promptly started jumping, laughing with glee as he bounced. "It's so springy!" He sighed happily as he lay down.

"This is nice, but it would be a lot cooler if it were a racecar bed that's an actual racecar!" With a poof of smoke, the bed turned into a racecar bed with a candy-apple red frame. Steven put his hands on the steering wheel, put his foot on the gas pedal, and drove a few laps around the room. "Whoohoohoohoo! This is awesome!"

The racecar bed stopped a bit too suddenly, flinging Steven into the air screaming before he landed on a pile of soft pink clouds. He then got to his feet and dusted himself off. Steven pondered for a moment. "Now I want... a tiny elephant the size of a mouse!"

In a tiny puff of smoke, a mouse-sized pink elephant appeared, trumpeting with its teeny-tiny trunk.

"Hey there, little guy!" Steven picked up the elephant in both his hands and gave it a kiss on the top of its head. The elephant responded by touching the tip of his nose with its trunk. "This is great! I can have whatever I want here! Which means... I can have the camping trip that the Gems, Dad, and I were supposed to have! Up top!" Steven held up one hand for a high five, which the tiny elephant reciprocated by using its trunk to slap his palm.

"Okay! I wanna see a whole forest full of trees, plants, and all sorts of nature stuff!"

At Steven's command, an entire temperate forest appeared to manifest in the room, complete with birdsong and the sound of babbling brook.

"Now I want Ruby, Sapphire, Amethyst, Pearl, and my dad here too."

Identical copies of each of them appeared in individual puffs of smoke in the order he mentioned them.

"And don't forget the camping supplies!"

Two tents, a bug zapper, six fishing poles, and six identical camper backpacks appeared.

"Okay! Now, what should we do first?" Steven asked everyone as the elephant climbed onto the top of his head to take shelter in his hair.

"I'm up for whatever you want, Steven," the room's copy of Greg said, then proceeded to play the air guitar.

"I suggest we do something mentally stimulating, like reading books!" the room's copy of Pearl spoke up.

"I wanna eat," the room's copy of Amethyst said.

"I say we punch some stuff!" the room's copy of Ruby exclaimed, lunging her fist forward.

The room's copy of Sapphire simply hummed.

"How about we go on a nature hike?" Steven suggested. "That sounds fun."

"Okay, Steven!" everyone said in unison.

"I'm gonna need a hiking stick!" A hiking stick appeared in Steven's hand in a puff of pink smoke, and he led the way for their hike.

* * *

They'd been hiking for about thirty minutes now. Steven inhaled through his nose to get a whiff of that sweet, woodsy air. It even smelled like a real forest. Although, he did kind of feel like he was walking in circles after a little while; he could have sworn that he'd passed that same bush and that same rock and all those same trees multiple times already. "Isn't this nice?"

"It sure is!" Greg said before playing the air guitar again.

"It is quite pleasurable," Pearl said. "I can identify at least seven species of plant in this forest!"

"Man, I'm hungry!" Amethyst complained. "When can we stop for lunch?"

"Will you quit complaining, Amethyst?!" Ruby growled. "Grah! I just wanna kick a grizzly bear's teeth in so slagging bad!" She kicked a rock in their path to punctuate that statement.

Sapphire simply hummed.

"Don't worry, Amethyst, we can stop for lunch soon." Steven's own stomach growled. "I'm actually kinda hungry myself. Let's stop and set up a picnic over here." Steven led everyone to a brightly-lit clearing. "Can we have a picnic please?"

At Steven's request, a picnic basket appeared, sitting on a red blanket with yellow stars on it. Everyone sat down and took out some triangle-cut sandwiches to eat.

Amethyst swallowed hers whole, then took out another and swallowed that one.

"Amethyst, don't eat so much at a time," Pearl reprimanded. "You'll end up with an upset stomach, which is not very good for anyone at all."

"Don't worry about it, Pearl." Greg took a bite of his sandwich. "Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow, like the rivers and streams in this forest." He then played the air guitar once again.

"Whatever you say, Dad." Steven tried to take a bite of his sandwich, only for it to disappear in a puff of pink smoke, much to his confusion. "Okay, can I have a real sandwich please?" Another sandwich appeared in his hand, but that one also disappeared when he tried to take a bite of it. Steven just groaned in frustration. "Whatever, lunch is overrated anyway. Who wants to go fishing?"

* * *

Steven cast his line into the stream, the room's copies of his dad and the Gems fishing alongside him. Most of of them anyway; Ruby and Amethyst just jumped in the water to fight and eat the fish respectively.

Steven stared at the water, waiting patiently for a fish to bite his line, only to see a fish teleport from one side of the stream to another. Steven rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. "You guys saw that, right?" he asked everyone else.

"I don't know what you mean," Pearl told him. "Everything here is perfectly normal."

"I thought I saw that fish teleport."

"Teleport, schmeleport!" Ruby snapped at him as she punched a large fish that jumped out of the water. "I'm gonna defeat all the fish in this stream so I can become the Fish Champion!"

"Relax, Steven," Greg told him as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Fishing is a lot like life. You can't rush through it hoping to snag a big catch; patience is the only true key to unlocking great rewards." And he played the air guitar once more.

"I mean..." Steven turned to Sapphire. "Sapphire, you saw it, right?"

Sapphire simply hummed a third time.

"So you did see it?"

Sapphire simply hummed a fourth time, then a fifth time, then a sixth, and then she hummed again and again until a long, drawn-out drone sounded from her closed mouth.

"Uh, okay, that's pretty weird."

Steven looked down and saw that the stream was running backwards. "That is _really_ weird!" Steven turned his head to look at the others. "The rest of you are seeing this, right? Right?!"

"I-I-I-I d-don't kn-know what you m-mean," Pearl stuttered out, some static-like noises erupting from her mouth. "Everything here is p-p-perfectly **_noooormaaaaaalllllllaaaaamro_**_ooon_ yltcefrep si ereh gnihtyrevE."

"What the-? What's going on here?!"

"You know what the say, Steven!" Greg said. "A doctor a day keeps the apple away!" And he played the air guitar for the fifth time.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

Then everything froze. Even the fish that leapt out of the stream were suspended in midair. Then everything became photo-negative for a split second. It appeared as if the room was glitching out. But that wasn't possible. Magic Gem rooms didn't just glitch out, right?

Suddenly, the "sky" of the room turned pitch black, though everything still appeared how it usually appeared in daylight. Then, all the trees vanished one-by-one, this time without turning into a puff of smoke.

"What's going on? What's wrong? Did I do something I shouldn't have?"

Pieces of the ground started to disappear as well, leaving the Gems and Greg suspended in the air, still frozen in whatever position they were in before. Steven ran away as the ground around him vanished before he could fall into the black void that lay beneath. He ran and ran, frantically looking left and right for the Door so he could leave this place.

"I'm sorry! I just wanted to have a nice camping trip with my family! I didn't think it could end up like this!"

"What do you want now, Steven?" he heard a soft, gentle voice ask him. The voice sounded like it came from the top of his head.

"I just wanna be out of here!"

The Temple Door suddenly appeared, and Steven didn't waste any time running through it. He tripped over on the Warp Pad, and looked around to see that he was back in his beach house. Lion walked over and sniffed at him. He got to his feet and pet the pink feline's mane. "Hey there, Lion. Did you miss me?"

In response, Lion licked Steven on the cheek, prompting a ticklish giggle from him. "I missed you too. But right now, I'm pretty hungry."

Steven walked over to the fridge to fix himself some food. He sat down at the kitchen island and took a bite from the turkey sandwich he made for himself, which, to his delight, _didn't_ turn into clouds upon biting it.

Steven turned his head to the direction of the Warp Pad as he saw the Gems warping in.

"Steven, we're back!" Pearl called.

"And check out all this cool stuff we grabbed!" Amethyst added as she lifted a small statue over her head.

"Guys!" Steven ran over to give Amethyst, Pearl, and Sapphire a big hug. "I'm so happy you're back!"

"Hey! Don't leave me out of the group hug now, kiddo!" Ruby put down the relic that she was holding to join in on the hug.

"I take it you missed us?" Pearl asked him with a smirk.

Steven nodded frantically. "I did! I was so disappointed that we couldn't go camping this weekend that my gem opened this other room in the Temple! It made me a whole forest, and copies of you guys and Dad!"

"You accessed Rose's room?!" Pearl prodded.

"How big was the forest it made?" Amethyst asked.

"Pretty big," Steven said as he released his grip. "There were a lot of different types of trees and plants, and even a stream with fish swimming in it. I think I heard birds there too. It was pretty cool until everything started glitching out!"

"Rose's room isn't meant to create illusions that big and complex," Sapphire said.

"Thank goodness you're alright!" Pearl cried, hugging him close to her again. "You must have been terrified!"

"I was," Steven agreed. "I've learned my lesson. I can't always have things go the way I want them to."

Pearl pondered for a moment. "Well, we can still have that campout you've been looking forward to."

"Really? How?"

* * *

Steven and the Gems were all sitting in a tent that had been set up on the front porch of the beach house.

"And then, just when the campers all thought they were safe," Steven told ominously while holding a flashlight to his face. "the ghost appeared right behind them!"

"Oh my!" Pearl gasped.

"Man, Steven, you always tell the _best_ ghost stories," Amethyst chuckled.

"I know." Steven turned off his flashlight. "I love camping."


	18. I Am Lapis Lazuli!

**So, thanks everyone for your comments. I won't be answering them individually anymore unless you have specific questions about the story. But please do keep them coming. Reviews make me very happy! :)**

**Now, without further ado, I present the debut of everyone's favorite water Gem!**** Bear with me, this is gonna be a long one.**

Steven and Connie were having a picnic on the top of the cliff that the Crystal Temple was carved into.

"So then what happened?" Connie asked as she took a bite from her sandwich.

"Then the vines turned into pink roses and the water came back to the spring, and Amethyst's gemstone was healed!"

"And you said you don't have healing powers of your own?"

"No. Sapphire said that I'd figure them out eventually, and I know she's almost always right about this kinda stuff, so I trust her judgement." Steven took a bite of his own sandwich. "Hey, can I try on your glasses?"

"Only if I can have the rest of your pop."

Steven handed her his can of apple-flavored soda. "Okay, but it's got my backwash in it."

"Good enough." Connie handed him her glasses.

Steven put on Connie's glasses as she drank the rest of his soda. "How do I look?"

Connie squinted. "I don't... wait." The girl rubbed her eyes. "I... I can see!"

"What?"

"I can see clearly without my glasses!"

"You can?! Really?!"

"I don't know what happened! It's like my eyesight was magically healed or something!"

Steven looked at the now-empty can of apple soda that Connie was still holding. "Wait a minute. I think it was my backwash that healed your eyes!"

"What?"

"You drank the rest of my soda that had my backwash in it and that healed your eyesight! I don't have healing tears like my mom, I have healing _spit!_"

"That's crazy! What am I gonna tell my parents? What am I gonna tell my optometrist?"

"I have no idea!" Steven gave her a big, happy hug. "Thank you so much, Connie!"

"Uh, you're welcome, I guess?"

"Oh, man! I gotta tell the Gems about this!" Steven took off down the hill before Connie grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

"Can I have my glasses back please?"

"Oh, sure. Here you go." The boy took off the glasses to return them to their rightful owner, and then continued running down the cliff.

Connie watched him go for a few seconds, then looked at the spectacles she was holding. She studied them closely, running her fingers along the frames, then popped out the lenses and put them back on.

* * *

Steven opened the door to his house. "Hey, guys, guess what?!"

"What is it, kid?" Ruby prodded him.

"Okay. You're not gonna believe this, but... I just discovered my healing power!"

"That's wonderful, Steven!" Pearl chirped.

"Connie's eyes were healed after she drank the backwash from my pop!"

"It's true!" the girl in question piped up as she came down to join him.

Pearl cringed slightly while Amethyst chuckled. "That's... nice. Anyway, come and see what we've found." She held up the silver, circular-faced hand mirror that she was holding, and the two children came inside to look at the Gem artifact.

Steven looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Cool. Is this some kind of magic mirror?"

"Yes, it is! Sapphire said that it can show you any historical monument of Gemkind. I really think this would be a good tool to teach you more about your fellow Gems, Steven." Pearl cleared her throat as she turned the mirror over to look into it. "Show me the Galaxy Warp." Pearl frowned at it, suggesting that it wasn't showing her what she wanted. She tried again. "Show me the Galaxy Warp!" Pearl's frown deepened as she growled in annoyance. "Of course it's broken."

"It was in rather rough condition when we found it," Sapphire pointed out.

"Can I have it then?" Amethyst asked. "I could use some more junk to decorate my room."

"Wait!" Steven piped up. "Can I have it? I've always wanted a magic mirror!"

Pearl looked at the mirror with a rather reluctant look on her face. "I suppose I could let one of you two hold onto it, since it isn't going to work anyway."

Steven grabbed the mirror from her hands. "Yeah!" He admired his reflection. "It doesn't look broken to me. Hey there, good-lookin'."

"Can I see?" Connie asked as she peeked her head over Steven's shoulder. "Hey, Steven, I haven't noticed how strange your eyes look before."

The boy frowned a little as he took notice of his vibrant pink irises and diamond-shaped pupils. "You really think my eyes look strange?"

"Not in a bad way! But I've never met anyone with pink eyes before."

"Well, I have been told that I have my mom's eyes. Are you still wearing your glasses?"

"Just the frames. I popped out the lenses." Connie took them off and stuck her fingers through them to show him. "I figure nobody would notice. Oh, wait! What time is it?" She took her phone out of her pocket to check the time. "Oh no! I'm gonna be late for violin lessons! Sorry, Steven, I have to go now." She put her frames back on and turned heel to leave.

"Already?"

Connie looked over her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll come over tomorrow. My mom says we'll be able to hang out a lot more now that it's Summer Vacation."

"What's Summer Vacation?"

"That's when you take a break off school for the entire summer."

"I've heard of school from TV, but I've never been to school before. I've learned everything I know from the Gems and my dad."

"That's interesting, Steven, but I really gotta go now, bye!" Connie waved him goodbye as she ran out the door.

Steven waved back. "Bye, Connie!"

"What a shame," Pearl lamented. "I was really hoping that mirror would work."

"Well, on the upside, we can enjoy Summer Vacation!"

"We do still have to keep the Earth safe from enemy Gems on a near-daily basis, kiddo," Ruby told him while crossing her arms. "We can't exactly_ afford_ to go on vacation."

"I mean, if we could go on vacation, we totally would," Amethyst added while grabbing some toaster tarts from the pantry.

"Okay. You guys go ahead and do whatever you need to get done and I'll enjoy Summer Vacation with my new mirror." And with that, Steven ran out the door.

* * *

Lars and Sadie were setting up tables outside the Big Donut as Steven ran up to them. "Happy Summer Vacation, Big Donut employees!"

"Hey, Steven," Sadie greeted. "How are you?"

"Pretty good. You guys excited for Summer Vacation?"

"Well, I'm excited to get done setting up this extra seating for the summer rush."

"You know what I'm excited for?" Lars asked. "All those out-of-town babes coming to Beach City for Summer Break... _without their __boyfriends._" He grinned widely while wiggling his eyebrows.

"That's nice," Steven said, not getting Lars' meaning. He held up the mirror that the Gems found. "Check out this cool mirror that Pearl gave me. It was supposed to show stuff from Gemkind, but it's kinda broken."

Sadie looked at her reflection in it. "Cool. So, do you wanna come inside and have a donut?"

"Maybe later. I've got some more people I wanna show my new mirror to." And he ran off to the boardwalk.

"Okay, bye!"

* * *

Steven ran over to It's A Wash to meet up with his dad. "Hey, Dad!"

"Hey, Schtu-Ball!" Greg was sitting in the back of his van reading a magazine. "What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to show you this mirror that the Gems found on one of their missions." The half-Gem boy held up the mirror in his hands.

Greg scratched his chin as he took a look at it. "They found it on a mission, eh? Is it magic? 'Cause you know how I feel about magic."

"Well, it's supposed to be able to show historical Gem monuments, but it's broken, so it can only show your reflection."

"Well, at least we know it's not dangerous or anything. So what else is new?"

"Well, earlier today I discovered my healing power when Connie's eyesight got healed after she drank my backwash."

Greg cringed a little. "Eugh. Really?"

"I know it sounds gross, but it's true!"

Steven and Greg jumped in surprise as they heard a loud honk outside the van. They came out to see a truck pulling a large fishing boat, and out of the truck hopped Onion and his dad.

"Hey, Yellowtail! You want your boat cleaned, huh?" Greg walked over to the man in the yellow raincoat.

Yellowtail grunted in affirmation.

"Well, go ahead and pull her in! She'll definitely fit."

"Hey, Onion, look what I got." Steven showed Onion his new mirror. "Pretty cool, huh? The Gems got it from-" Suddenly, Onion snatched the mirror right from Steven's hands and ran off to the back of the car wash, Steven quickly giving chase. "Hey! Onion, what are you doing with that?"

Onion stared at his reflection in the mirror. He then set it on the ground, the glass side facing up, and took out what appeared to be a hammer to smash it with.

"Onion, no!" Steven ran right over to him and yanked the hammer out of the smaller boy's hands. "Onion, I know you like to destroy stuff, but you have to understand that this mirror is very valuable." Onion looked at Steven for a bit, then back at the mirror, and proceeded to raise his foot to stomp on it, before there was a loud honking sound that startled the two boys. They looked around to see what was the source of the noise.

It sounded like it came from the mirror, but that wasn't possible. Mirrors couldn't make sounds, but magic mirrors probably could. Steven picked it up and looked into it. "Did you just... honk?" he asked it, though he doubted it could understand him. Then, as if to answer his question, the glass showed the image of Yellowtail's truck and produced the same sound it did not too long ago.

"Can you hear me?"

The mirror responded with a voice clip of Yellowtail grunting in affirmation.

"This is so cool! You do work after all! I gotta go tell the Gems!"

"No!"

"Why not? They're gonna be so happy to see that you're not broken."

The mirror just repeated the same clip of Steven saying "No!"

"Okay, we don't have to go back to the Gems right now. In fact, why don't we show you around Beach City?" Steven started walking away from the car wash. "There's lots to see and do around here. Well, I don't know if you can really do anything, since you're a mirror and all."

The mirror didn't respond this time.

"Oh no. Did I upset you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Please don't be mad, okay?"

The mirror showed a clip of Steven saying "Okay."

"Good. So, I think we should get to know each other. My name is-"

"Steven."

"Hey! You know my name! What's yours? Do you have a name? 'Cause I feel kinda weird just calling you mirror."

The mirror didn't respond.

"It's fine. I'll just call you Summer Vacation Buddy, or Buddy for short. How's that sound, Buddy?"

"Okay."

"Okay, Buddy! Let's have some summer fun in Beach City!"

So Steven and his new mirror friend went around Beach City doing all sorts of fun summer activities; they used the mirror's sound-mimicking ability to pull a few harmless pranks at the boardwalk, they went to Funland and played some games, they went to the movies and saw the new Dog-Copter movie in 3D, they went to Fish Stew Pizza to have a nice pizza dinner, and lastly, they sat on the beach to watch the sun set over the ocean.

Steven sighed contentedly, hugging the stuffed walrus he won at Funland. "Today was a great day. I had a lot of fun. How about you, Buddy?"

The mirror pieced together clips of the words it had heard to make a new phrase. "I had - fun. You're - my - Summer Vacation Buddy - Steven."

"Aw, thanks! Now I really think we should head inside and show you to the Gems-"

"No!"

"Come on, just give them a chance. They're gonna love you, I'm sure of it!" And he ran straight to the Temple.

"No! No! No! No!"

* * *

Pearl and Amethyst were sitting on the couch while Ruby was on the floor doing some sit-ups and Sapphire was holding her feet down.

"Honestly, just think of all of the places that mirror would have let us see!" Pearl mused. "I can't even begin to describe my disappointment about it not working."

"There's nothing we can do now," Ruby said. "Unless Steven somehow used his healing spit to heal the mirror, it's pretty much useless to us."

Steven suddenly opened the door to the beach house, mirror in hand. "Hey, guys! Guess what?!"

"You got a walrus?" Amethyst asked.

Steven looked at his new walrus. "Yes, but I also got the mirror to work!"

"Oh, Steven, that's _fantastic!_" Pearl rejoiced while clapping her hands together.

"How'd you manage that?" Ruby asked as she stood to her feet.

"I talked to it! I didn't know that it would be like a person."

The Gems' smiles faded, and they just stared at him blankly for a few seconds before Amethyst simply asked "What?"

"I hadn't expected that," Sapphire mused.

"Steven," Pearl stood up. "the mirror couldn't possibly be sentient. All it can do is show you places and things that it had been shown previously."

Steven frowned at her. "But it talked to me. I'll show you." He lifted the mirror up so that it was facing the Gems. "Come on, Summer Vacation Buddy, say something."

Pearl approached him and reached a hand out to grab it. "Steven, look. Just give me the mirror and I'll put it away."

The mirror suddenly played a clip of Steven crying "No!", startling the pale Gem into reeling her hand back.

"It doesn't want to go with you!" Steven said as he hugged the mirror close to him.

"It just... But... that's not possible! It shouldn't be able to play messages on its own like that!"

"I believe we should keep it somewhere safe," Sapphire said.

"Sapphire's right, kiddo," Ruby told Steven. "We can't risk you just flaunting that mirror around and accidentally breaking it for real."

"But-"

"Steven, just hand it over, and we'll put this whole thing behind us, alright?" Pearl reached her hand out again, only for Steven to slap it away. "Steven!"

"I'm not letting you take it from me! It's my Summer Vacation Buddy, and it wants to stay with _me!_" And with that, the half-Gem boy ran out of the house and out onto the beach below.

"Steven!" Ruby shouted after him. "Get back in here now and give Pearl the mirror! Or I'll come out there and _make_ you!"

"N-Now, Ruby! I'm sure Steven doesn't know what he's doing."

"He's going to be in trouble when we get to him," Sapphire said quietly as she got to her feet.

* * *

Steven was running as far as he could from the Temple, still holding the mirror in his grasp, stopping at the edge of the ocean to catch his breath.

"Steven?" he heard Pearl call. "Come back to the Temple! We just want to have a talk!"

Steven looked at the mirror. "Is there anything I can do to help you? I don't want the Gems to take you from me if you don't want them to."

The mirror showed him the image of a petite, blue woman in a dark void, sitting on her knees with her hands bound in a set of watery chains as some darker blue feathers littered the watery floor around her. The woman seemed to stare back at him, with sad, longing eyes. It then showed a simplified image of the ocean, along with a blue silhouette of Steven setting the mirror in the water, then a close-up of the mirror as its glass face dissolved beneath the waves, a blue hand rising out of where the glass once was.

"Who was that blue girl? Is she why you want me to put you in the ocean?"

**"STEVEN!"**

Startled, the boy looked behind him and saw the source of the shout, Ruby, and the rest of the Gems running towards him. "Hand it over right now!"

Steven furrowed his brow at them, then looked towards the ocean as he threw the mirror right into the dark blue water in front of him.

The mirror sunk beneath the surface with a splash, a few small bubbles popping in its wake, followed by more bubbles, larger bubbles which were soon followed by a blue hand rising from the water below, followed by another hand and the owner's entire upper half as she dragged herself onto dry land. She looked just like the young woman the mirror had shown him; same blue skin, same cobalt blue eyes, and same short, indigo hair. The only thing she wore was an indigo, gold-hemmed dress which was held up by gold laces that were tied around her neck. Now that Steven could get a better look at her, he could see the small smattering of golden freckles dusting the bridge of her nose and some faint cracks forming on her shoulders. What he really noticed, however, were the large, bird-like wings that sprouted from her back; they were drooping at her sides, and their feathers, some of which were falling out, were indigo and gold, like her dress. Steven knew that she must be another Gem.

"Thank you..."

"Um, you're welcome. So, what's your name?"

"My name?"

"You know, something that you call yourself and others call you. My name is-"

"Steven. You've told me."

Steven's eyes lit up in realization. "You were trapped in that mirror, weren't you?"

"For so, so long." The mysterious Gem tried to stand up, noticably a little shaky, so Steven helped her. "That's why I'm thanking you. You actually talked to me, and you set me free. My name's Lapis, by the way. Lapis Lazuli."

"Nice to meet you, Lapis."

"Steven!" Pearl cried. "There you are!"

"You're coming home right now!" Ruby scolded as she grabbed Steven by the arm.

Lapis narrowed her eyes at the Crystal Gems. "_You._"

The four of them just stared at her.

"Why didn't any of you help me when you found me?" The ocean started becoming restless, its waves thrashing and crashing against the sand with much ferocity. "You had to have known that I was trapped in that mirror!" Lapis raised her arm to the steadily darkening sky, and a large pillar of water rose from it before taking the form of a giant arm. "Do you know... what I am?!" She clenched her raised hand into a fist and threw it down, the water hand following suit as it crashed against the sand, though the Gems were able to jump out of the way before they could get crushed. "I am Lapis Lazuli! And I won't be trapped here any more!" Lapis turned around to face the ocean before spreading her wings, showing a good view of the large cracks in her shoulder blades near her gemstone, a royal blue, teardrop-shaped stone decorated with little specks of gold. She tried to fly up into the sky before unceremoniously falling onto her knees. She then stood back on her bare feet, then raised her arm to separate the ocean into two, leaving a wide gap, and then walked away on the sandy path she made for herself.

"Did... any of you guys know her?" Steven asked the Gems.

"No," Pearl said. "Not every single Gem knows one another, Steven. Gemworld is home to millions of Gems with many more living on colonies."

"Was Lapis from Gemworld?"

"Yes, Steven, most of us Gems were," Sapphire said. "You're grounded by the way."

"What?"

"Of course you're grounded!" Ruby said. "You deliberately disobeyed a direct order!"

"And now we're gonna have to bury you 'til you learn your lesson," Amethyst said.

"That's not what grounded means, Amethyst." Steven told her.

"Come on inside and get ready for bed, Steven." Pearl grabbed Steven's hand and led him back to the beach house.

* * *

The next morning came, and while Steven normally greeted the day with excitement, today, he was in a more dour mood. "Another day of being grounded," he groaned as he climbed out of bed and came downstairs to make himself some breakfast. That's when he heard a knock on his front door. He walked over to answer it, and saw that it was Greg. "Hey, Steven, I know you're not really supposed to leave the house right now, but I think you should come take a look at this."

* * *

The citizens of Beach City were all standing on the beach, staring out at the ocean. Or rather, where the ocean was supposed to be; instead, there was nothing but sand and some boats. Mayor Dewey was trying his best to calm everyone down while Ronaldo was writing about it on his blog.

"What's going on?" Steven asked. "What happened to the ocean?"

"Nobody knows," Greg answered. "It was right there last night and then it just disappeared.

"We know what happened." Steven and Greg looked behind them and saw that the Gems were standing in front of the doorway. Sapphire was the one who spoke. "It was Lapis Lazuli who took the ocean to try and get back to Gemworld."

"Well, what can we do to get it back?" Steven asked.

"Steven!"

It was then that they saw Connie running over to the beach house. "I saw what was going on on the news. I asked my parents if I could come over and see if you're okay."

"I'm fine, but I'm grounded."

"Lapis Lazuli was apparently trapped in that mirror we found," Pearl explained. "and instead of giving it to us like we told him to, he threw it into the ocean and set her free."

"It's my fault that the ocean's gone, so I should try to fix it, right?" Steven looked up at the Gems with pleading eyes.

"Steven..."

"At least let me help! C'mon, I feel terrible for letting this happen!"

"I was just going to say that we should come with you to make sure you don't get hurt."

"I'm coming too!" Connie declared.

"And me!" Greg added.

"We're ungrounding you," Sapphire said with a smile.

"Now get inside and get dressed!" Ruby ordered, pointing at the door.

* * *

Steven quickly got dressed and packed some supplies into his cheeseburger backpack. He went down the stairs to get out the door before bumping into Lion, who was standing in front of the doorway.

"Oh! Do you wanna come too, Lion?"

Lion gave a small growl, indicating that he did.

"Okay! We could use a big strong animal like you." Steven opened the door. "Come on!" And they both walked out the door.

* * *

Soon enough, everyone was on their way to stop Lapis Lazuli from stealing the ocean. The Gems hitched a ride in Greg's van and Steven and Connie rode on Lion.

"You're sure you and your magical sisters can bring back the ocean?" Mayor Dewey asked him over his megaphone.

"Sure we can!" Steven assured him. "Or we'll get really thirsty trying."

"Well I sure hope so! Nobody wants to take a vacation in Desert City for the summer!"

Pearl rolled down the window to the passenger seat. "Don't worry, everyone! We'll do everything in our power to make sure that it doesn't stay Desert City for much longer! But we really need to get going now if we want to save this ocean and whatever other bodies of water Lapis Lazuli might have taken." And they moved forward, Greg playing an energetic rock song on the radio.

* * *

About three hours had passed since Greg, Connie, Lion and the Crystal Gems first took off. Greg had gotten tired, so Pearl decided to take the wheel while he took a nap in the back. Connie fell asleep while Steven (though he was also getting tired) stayed awake to steer Lion and keep an eye out for any signs of water. All he could see around him was sand and some clusters of coral. Then he saw a great tower of clear blue water in front of him. It appeared to reach into space.

Steven shook Connie awake. "Connie. We've made it."

"Huh?" Connie rubbed the sleep from her eyes, which widened when she saw what was in front of her. "Wow. So that's the ocean, huh?"

Greg yawned as he walked over to the front seat. "Hey, Pearl, I'm ready to take the wheel again- Whoa. Guys? I just thought of a sick new album cover."

Steven cleared his throat. "Lapis?" he called while cupping a hand around his mouth. "Are you up there?"

"_None of you are supposed to be here._" Lapis' voice said. "_Go away__._"

"I just wanna talk to you!"

"_I don't want to talk to __anyone. Just__ leave me alone._"

The Gems then emerged from Greg's van. "Lapis Lazuli," Sapphire spoke. "We need you to give back our ocean."

"We're not letting you take it from us!" Pearl said.

"_Fine. I guess if you won't leave me alone, then I'll have to make you._"

Just then, a giant, watery hand emerged from the saltwater tower. The Gems summoned their weapons while Lion growled at it, slowly backing up as his hackles were raised.

"Lapis, please! You don't have to do this!" But Steven's words fell on deaf ears as the hand slammed down on the sand and dissipated, the water splashing and spreading across the sea floor. However, it wasn't long before the water reshaped itself into five identical copies of Lapis Lazuli. Each of them charged at one of the four Gems, and Lion.

"Kids, get in the van," Pearl said. "We can handle this."

Steven and Connie did as they were told, and Ruby, Amethyst, and Pearl proceeded to charge forward.

Pearl slashed her spear at one of the water copies, only for each of the two halves to turn into a fully-formed Lapis doppelganger. "This is why I hate fighting sentient liquid," she groaned to herself as she fired a laser at each of them.

Ruby was trying to punch her Lapis clone with her gauntlet as it continually dodged her attacks. It then grabbed her arm and chucked her right into the windshield of the van, shattering it upon impact.

"Ruby!" Steven and Connie cried.

"My windshield!" Greg cried. "Oh, sorry. Are you okay, Ruby?"

Ruby sucked in some air through her teeth. "M'fine. I've had worse." She then climbed out of the hole her body made and ran back into battle.

Meanwhile, Amethyst was continually trying to attack a water Lapis by throwing things at it with her whip, only for the clone to repeatedly contort its form to dodge everything it threw at her. "Aw, come on!" she whined. Then the saltwater being wrapped itself around her like a boa constrictor. Amethyst thrashed and kicked, trying to free herself from its grasp.

Sapphire was using her ice magic to freeze the water doubles solid while Lion tried to use his sonic roar on them, only for those ones to immediately reform.

Steven couldn't bear to keep watching this fight break out. He went out to stop it before anyone could get seriously hurt.

"Steven!" Greg cried out. "Where are you going?!"

Steven didn't answer him. The only thought that crossed his mind was to protect the ones he loves, to protect his home, to protect everything he cares about.

"Lapis," Steven called. "I want you to stop this right now."

The water clones all looked at him. One clone stepped forward to throw a ball of saltwater at him.

Steven's stomach grew warm as his gemstone glowed brightly, and his shield formed just in time to stop it from hitting him. All of the water copies stopped what they were doing and dissipated from the sudden shockwave that the shield produced. Steven then walked up to the tower and put a hand on it. "Can I come up there, Lapis?"

A giant water hand grabbed him and lifted him all the way to the top of the tower, which reached the very edge of Earth's atmosphere. Lapis was standing there, hand raised and eyes glaring hard at the boy. "Just why are you here, Steven?"

"I'm here to stop you from stealing our ocean. It's a very important part of Earth's ecosystem and-"

"Of course. You're just like those Crystal Gems. They don't care about anything else but this planet. I just want to leave it all behind. I just want to go back home."

"So, why are you stealing the ocean?"

"I thought if I could make a big enough tower, I could reach Gemworld." Lapis sighed as she hugged herself. "But that could never work, Gemworld is billions of light-years away. I can't fly back because my wings have these big cracks in them. They're useless." She turned around to show him.

Steven hummed as he examined the cracks. "I think I can help."

"How?"

"Sit down."

Lapis did as she was told.

Steven licked his fingers and made sure they were covered in his saliva. "Hold still. This might feel a bit weird." He ran his spitty fingers along the cracks in Lapis' back, the blue Gem shuddering as he did so.

The cracks then disappeared, and Lapis stood up and flapped her wings to test them, delighted that her feet weren't touching anything. "My wings! You've healed them! Thank you, Steven!"

"No problemo!"

"Goodbye now, and again, thanks!" The winged Gem flew away into the distant space.

Steven smiled before the tower started falling apart under his feet. Steven fell back to Earth along with all of the water Lapis had stolen. It wasn't too long before Lion jumped up and nabbed him out of the sky.

* * *

Everyone rode back to the shore in Greg's van, (which was encased in a bubble so Greg and Connie could breathe, which the two humans were amazed by) and when the citizens of Beach City saw the ocean again, they cheered for Steven and the Gems for bringing it back. That night, the town celebrated with a big beachside barbecue.

Steven walked over to the shoreline and picked up some of Lapis' shed feathers. He then looked up at the night sky. "Have a safe flight, Lapis."


End file.
